Published in The Financial Express on Friday, 20 December 2013.
Facing global trade challenges
Debapriya underscores export items Diversification
Bangladesh must take steps to diversify its export products in the coming days to face the emerging trade challenges in the era of globalisation, says eminent economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
“We’ve to think about a trade policy for the next generation… we definitely should go for product diversification, including RMG (readymade garments) and non-textile products,” he said.
Debapriya was addressing the first session (Globalistion and Trade in South Asia) of a conference in the capital on Friday morning, reports UNB.
The Department of Economics and Social Sciences, BRAC University, arranged the daylong conference, titled ‘Globalistion and Trade: Perspective and Challenges for South Asia’, at BRAC Centre Inn.
Dr Debapriya, a fellow of the Centre for the Policy Dialogue (CPD), a civil society think tank, said Bangladesh has already gained much from globalisation and it will be benefited more in the future.
He emphasised market diversification and exploring new markets in potential countries like India, Brazil and Russia to face trade challenges of globalisation in the future.
Terming trade facilitation a critical issue, Debapriya said trade barriers must be removed to increase export from Bangladesh.
The CPD fellow said global buyers had earlier given emphasis on the quality of products. “But, now they also give importance to production process of goods like working environment and other compliances.”