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Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun stressed that the Ready-Made-Garments cooperation has been the symbol and model of successful bilateral ties between Korea and Bangladesh for the past five decades.
The South Korea envoy told this during his meeting with Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Sunday (March 13).
Mentioning that the Embassy is now preparing a documentary on Korea-Bangladesh RMG cooperation as part of its preparation of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year, Ambassador Lee appreciated that Korean companies have made indispensable contributions to the birth and growth of Bangladesh’s RMG sector since late 1970s.
The joint venture between Korean company, Daewoo Corporation, and Desh Garment of Bangladesh in 1978 led to the birth of Bangladesh’s RMG industry.
The Korean companies, including Youngone Corporation which operates Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) in Chattogram, were not only the first foreign investors in Bangladesh RMG sector but still the largest foreign investors in this sector.
At present Korea is the 5th largest foreign direct investor in Bangladesh in terms of the accumulated stock investment volume and RMG sector accounts for more than 70 percent of Korea’s investment in Bangladesh which reached over 1.3 billion dollars in 2021.
Based on the success stories of cooperation in the RMG sector, Korea hopes to make other success stories in other sectors in the coming years, said Ambassador Lee.
At the meeting, Ambassador Lee highlighted that the trade volume between the two countries reached a historic height in 2021 crossing 2.1 billion dollars after almost 10 years of stagnation, reads the press release of the Korean Embassy.
Both sides agreed to make continuous effort to further expand the bilateral trade and to diversify the trade items. Korea has been providing duty and quota-free access to the Korean market to 95% of Bangladesh products since 2012.
On this occasion, Ambassador Lee also raised the necessity of according equal treatment to Korean companies in the export benefits such as the cash incentives for exportation. Currently, the foreign companies operating in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are not eligible for the benefits. Korea is the largest investor in the EPZs across the country with 72 companies operating in the zones.
(DS)
