The government has exhorted its missions abroad to explore new business opportunities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.
The missions may seek such prospects and give necessary recommendations to the government for taking action accordingly, they added.
To this effect, the commerce ministry has recently assigned commercial counsellors and first secretaries (commercial) of Bangladesh missions abroad.
Earlier, it issued a separate directive to the councillors for sitting with the buyers concerned and sending monitoring reports.
At present, Bangladesh has 57 missions and 18 commercial wings abroad, according to the Export Promotion Bureau or EPB.
When asked, commerce secretary Dr Md Jafar Uddin said, "We've issued an instruction to all commercial councillors and first secretaries to identify new export opportunities amid the coronavirus pandemic."
Health safety products like mask, glove, personal protective equipment and sanitiser are now in great demand globally in the wake of the corona outbreak, said a ministry official.
"So far as we know, local producers will be able to export the items to different countries after meeting the domestic demand," he added.
There is also a high demand for various Bangladeshi agricultural goods abroad. The councillors can explore new export baskets for agricultural items, including old products, the official continued.
Bangladesh has already seen negative growth in export and import sectors amid a countrywide lockdown in the context of the corona outbreak.
The ministry has thus taken multiple measures to provide aid in the highly potential sectors to combat the COVID-19 outbreak across the country.
Apparel factories have already suffered a setback in terms of work order cancellations or suspensions as a result of the global viral disorder.
The commerce ministry in a position paper earlier apprehended that domestic demand might fall in the next three months that is likely to affect the import sector indirectly.
What is more, the import of industrial raw materials will decline automatically if export earnings fall.
"Undoubtedly, the pandemic has put the country at high health and economic risk. There has been uncertainty in import and export sectors for global supply-chain disruptions," cited the paper.
It said the country's export posted 4.8-per cent negative growth in first eight months of this fiscal year (FY) than that of the same period last year.
The apparel export saw negative growth of 5.5 per cent during the same period, added the paper.
According to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), 1,134 garment units reported export cancellation/suspension of 975.20 million pieces worth $3.15 billion until Sunday.
On the other hand, the overall import sector saw 2.2-per cent negative growth from July to January in FY '20 compared to the same period in FY '19.
Total imports fell 14 per cent in January 2020 alone.
According to the EPB, some 45 Bangladesh missions abroad failed to achieve their respective export targets for the July-February period of this fiscal.
Even 17 out of 18 commercial wings have also failed to attain their targets.
Bangladesh wants to increase its export earnings to $60 billion by 2021 from present level of $40.53 billion in FY '19.
It set a target of $45.5 billion for the current fiscal year, according to the EPB.
