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Trade deficit with South Asian nations crosses $2b

Gazi Towhid Ahmed
Bangladesh's trade deficit with other South Asian countries crossed $2 billion in the six months through December.
Bangladesh imported $2.68 billion and exported $313.7 million to the countries under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
Saarc countries accounted for 17 percent of Bangladesh's total international trade in the last fiscal year.
Bangladesh has two trading platforms -- multilateral trade under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement and bilateral trade, said Annisul Huq, presi-
dent of Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The exports of Bangladesh are rather low in multilateral trade with Saarc countries as Nepal and Bhutan enjoy duty-free access to the Indian market, while Sri Lanka has free trade, Huq said.
Bangladesh had a trade deficit of $4.7 billion with Saarc countries in fiscal 2010-11, which was 47.08 percent higher than in fiscal 2009-10, data shows.
Bangladesh has the biggest trade gap with India among the Saarc countries — $2.11 billion — in the first half of the current fiscal year.
Bangladesh has competitive products compared to India as Bangladesh and India export the same products to Europe and other counties, said Huq, also former president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers
of Commerce andlndustry.
The range of Bangladeshi products is small and the garment industry, the nation's largest export-earning sector, also depends on Indian yarn and fabric, he said.
A three-day 11th Saarc Trade Fair and Tourism Mart will kick off on March 31 in Dhaka to strengthen the bilateral economic and trade relations for deeper integration of South Asia and promotion of inter-regional trade among Saarc countries.
A total of 300 stalls will be set up at the fair. Of them, 50 will be allocated for the tourism sector and 100 stalls for the trade sector from the Saarc countries, other than Bangladesh and Saarc observer countries.
Huq said the trade and tourism fair will be helpful in attracting foreign buyers to Bangladesh.