Commerce Secretary Dr. Md. Jafar Uddin, on Thursday, said Bangladesh will lose a number of duty-free quota-free (DFQF) facilities after its graduation from the existing least developed country (LDC) status.
The country is now in the transition period of the graduation.
The commerce secretary opined: "We need to proceed for (signing) bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with potential partner countries."
"For this, we need to have deeper studies, research and understanding to offset revenue loss in order to make the country competitive in export."
He said these while co-chairing the 8th meeting of Trade and Investment Working Committee (TIWC) of Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) at the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.
Dr. Jafar said export diversification is one of the priorities of the government, for which it is actively working.
The commerce secretary assured of implementing the proposed reform bids of BUILD for export diversification as well as taking supportive policies for non-RMG sectors.
He requested BUILD to duly send all proposals, coming out of the TIWC meetings, and said these will be actively considered.
"But we need the recommendations with action matrix, so that we can coordinate with different ministries accordingly to see a better implementation of our reforms," he added.
Barrister Nihad Kabir, President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), spoke as the TIWC co-chair from the private sector.
She opined that the government should come forward to provide equal fiscal monetary assistance, like the RMG, to all the potential export-oriented sectors.
