Agreements are being prepared to import essentials from Myanmar as well as from India, State Minister for Commerce Ahasanul Islam Titu has said.
He gave this information while participating in a dialogue at the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the media centre of the Secretariat.
“We are going to make an agreement with India to import essentials. We may also import agricultural products from Myanmar, which they have a surplus of. We have almost finalised an agreement on this. We will try to sign that deal next July,” said the state minister during a programme of the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the secretariat’s media centre.
If there is an agreement with Myanmar, onions, pulses and other daily essentials can be brought from that country, said the state minister of commerce, adding that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will sign this agreement on behalf of the government.
He said people can be kept in a comfortable situation if essentials are brought from India and Myanmar.
Among the people living in the city, the fixed-income people are under more pressure, said the state minister, adding that, “The fixed-income people in the city are under a lot of pressure. There are other programmes for them aside from the TCB activities. In future, we will see how we can supply goods to the people who are based in the cities as directed by the prime minister.
“People who produce in villages are better off than people on fixed-incomes in the city. Even those who drive autos in the villages keep a cow or a goat. In the afternoon they go to their croplands to see the grains. They have multiple economic activities.”
The state minister also said the government is working to ensure that even after graduating to a developing country, Bangladesh will get all the facilities it currently gets from the European Union and elsewhere as the least developed country.
Responding to a question about the sale of rawhides at a low price during Eid-ul-Azha, Titu said, “We will monitor it, by monitoring, we will take necessary measures next year to fill the gaps that exist.
“Deputy commissioners at 64 districts have been instructed to take the statistics of how many rawhides were bought, how many were stored, and how many remained unsold in which district. But in this regard, the line ministry is the industry ministry. In this case, we can only monitor; forcing someone to buy is the work of the Ministry of Industries, with which the Ministry of Finance is connected. We will coordinate. However, I will talk to the Ministry of Industries in this regard.”
