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Malaysia agrees to reduce trade gap, up investment

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Malaysia has agreed to take necessary steps to reduce the trade imbalance and further enhance investment in Bangladesh for bolstering bilateral cooperation.
"We have agreed to enhance the volume of trade to reduce the existing trade gap. Although the trade balance is in our favour, investment is in favour of Bangladesh, so, there is a compensatory balance between the two countries," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid bin Zaafar Albar.
Addressing a joint press conference after a ministerial-level meeting of Bangladesh-Malaysia Joint Commission in Dhaka yesterday, Hamid said, "We have to look in a holistic way. Of course, in trade side it is more in favour of us, but if you look at the investment side, it is in favour of Bangladesh, so there is already a balance."
Bangladesh Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan also spoke at the press conference held at Sonargaon Hotel.
The ministerial-level meeting of the joint commission that took place after 11 years was followed by the signing of agreed minutes on a range of bilateral matters. Morshed and Hamid initialled them on behalf of their respective countries.
In the agreed minutes, the two countries decided to enhance cooperation in capacity building, agriculture, education, healthcare, tourism and IT (information technology) sectors.
Official sources said that at the 3rd meeting of the joint commission that ended yesterday, Malayisa also agreed to recruit manpower from Bangladesh based on its requirement. It also agreed to relocate its labour-intensive industries to Bangladesh as part of measures to reinforce bilateral cooperation.
Morshed described his Malaysian counterpart's visit to Bangladesh as a "very significant development in our bilateral ties."
Hamid said, "I find the meeting most productive. We have agreed to cooperate in capacity building to develop human resource, tourism, bio-tech and IT sectors,"
Malaysia has already invested in telecommunications sector in Bangladesh and is interested in making more investments in telecommunications, and also in power and energy sectors, he said.
Replying to a question, the Malaysian foreign minister said Bangladeshi workforce is contributing to economic growth of his country, and recruitment of more workforce will depend on the need of the private sector.
Over 54,000 Bangladeshi workers are now employed in different sectors in Malaysia as against around 200,000 in the past. The memorandum of understanding on recruitment of manpower signed by Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur in 2003 is still valid, he mentioned.
He however noted that since Malaysia has gone for hi-tech industries, requirement of workforce will depend on the needs of the private industries.
Asked about the OIC's weaknesses, Hamid said, "I accept there are weaknesses but I don't think you should blame global order for the OIC situation ... It is important to have cooperation in economy and investment among the OIC countries."
Malaysia is the current chair of the OIC.
The Malaysian foreign minister said his country's Prime Minister Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi will visit Bangladesh soon. "Our Prime Minister has expressed his desire to visit Bangladesh and we will find out a suitable date for the visit as early as possible through consultations between the two countries."
The Bangladesh foreign minister said, "We have discussed all issues including cooperation in agriculture, education, bio-tech, health,
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tourism and other areas so that we can have a win-win situation."
Morshed, who had a breakfast meeting with Hamid, said they also discussed regional, sub-regional and international issues and how to face together the challenges facing the two nations.
A top official of Bangladesh said the Malaysian side agreed in principle to give either duty-free entry or concession to 19 categories of Bangladeshi export products.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Hemayetuddin told reporters Malaysia expressed keen interest in investing in trade and service sectors, and importing agro-based products, fruits, rice, and goodslikejute and ceramics.
The Malaysian side proposed to send students to study medical sci-encesin Bangladesh, he said.
Malaysian companies are especially keen to invest in infrastructure development projects in Bangladesh, he mentioned.
The Malaysian side has agreed to accept the proposal to set up an exchange house in Malaysia, solely to provide remittance services to Bangladeshi nationals working in Malaysia.
Meeting sources on condition of anonymity said Bangladesh would prepare a list of 26,000 workers for sending them to Malaysia after studying the requirements there.
Talking to reporters after the press conference, Morshed said the commerce ministries of the two countries will soon take appropriate steps to reduce the trade gap.
State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Mohammed Quamrul Islam, ERD Secretary Ismail Zabihullah and high officials of both the sides were present at the signing ceremony and press conference.