Dhaka trade fair concludes with USD 16m export orders

Dhaka : Participating companies of the 26th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) bagged export orders worth about USD 16 million at the month-long event that ended on January 31.
In terms of completed sales, goods worth some BDT 40 crore were sold at the annual trade fair, which was held at its new venue in Dhaka's Purbachal, according to a statement from the commerce ministry.
On the concluding day, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi handed over crests to 42 participants, 10 officials of different departments and 27 organisations for their outstanding contribution to this edition of the DITF.
During the programme, Munshi said the government has been trying to sign free trade agreements, preferential trade agreements, and other regional trade partnerships to retain Bangladesh's duty benefits after the country's graduation from a least developed country in 2026.
He went on to say that Bangladesh should be able to achieve its export target of USD 51 billion by the end of the current fiscal year thanks to a strong upward trend in outgoing shipments.
Considering the increasing export volume, the government aims to ship USD 80 billion worth of goods by the end of 2024," the commerce minister said, adding that the government is taking various measures both at home and abroad to this end.
Golam Dastagir Gazi, minister for textiles and jute, said the country is now self-reliant for its energy needs.
"Production once suffered a lot because of a power crisis but the situation has changed since then," he added.
More than 20 lac people visited the DITF this year, according to a senior official of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), co-organiser of the DITF with the commerce ministry.
In 2021, the DITF was cancelled due to the severe fallouts of Covid-19, he claimed.
However, the number of people who visited the DITF when it was held at its old venue in the capital's Agargaon was much higher, the EPB official added.
On January 1, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina virtually inaugurated the fair, where some 227 companies from 11 countries participated this year.
Apart from Bangladesh, companies from India, Pakistan, Turkey, Thailand and South Korea took part in this edition of the DITF.