The Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI) will be built into a strong national “think tank” in international trade, trade law, economic research and skills development, Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir has said.
The minister said BFTI would conduct regular research on market conditions, trade trends, potential risks and economic changes in major economies including China, India, the United States, Canada and the European Union. Such research would help the government’s policymaking and the private sector’s business decisions.
He spoke as chair at BFTI’s 63rd governing-board meeting at its conference room in the capital on Tuesday, according to a commerce ministry press release.
There is no alternative to deep research on the global trade system, international markets and economic change to protect the country’s future commercial interests, the minister said, and BFTI is being strengthened with a new plan to that end.
“We have no shortage of the necessary funding; what we needed was long-term direction. Work has now begun on that,” he said.
The meeting approved the appointment of Mostafa Abid Khan as BFTI’s new chief executive officer.
The meeting was told that the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission is running several research and training programs to strengthen the country’s trade policy and export capacity, including reviews of existing laws and rules, the challenges of anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures, and opportunities to expand export markets for the leather sector. Research is also under way on competition in the country’s air-ticketing market for the Bangladesh Competition Commission, and training programs on trade-policy review, RJSC registration and returns, tax, VAT and customs, and import-export procedures are continuing.
Those present included Economic Relations Division Secretary Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Commerce Secretary Md Ataur Rahman Khan, EPB Vice-Chairman Mohammad Hasan Arif, BFTI CEO (additional charge) Saif Uddin Ahmed and BFTI governing-board Vice-Chairman Mahbubur Rahman, among others.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report