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Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rizwan Rahman on Sunday stressed formulating national way forward strategies for local and export market competitiveness, rational elimination of non-tariff barriers for ensuring a smooth LDC graduation status.
He made the comments at a press conference on the current economic situation and the chamber’s action plan for the year 2022 arranged by the DCCI in the capital.
Rizwan said that this year the chamber would prioritise the CMSME sector, export diversification, blue economy, economic diplomacy, infrastructure, private investment and FDI, export diversification, skills development, digital engagement, taxation and LDC graduation.
He said the world is still suffering from the Covid outbreak, therefore strengthening CMSME sector should get priority especially in terms of easy access to finance.
To cope up with the growing demand for future skilled workforce, he urged for investing more in research and development, re-skilling and upskilling.
Terming blue economy an emerging sector for the country, he said Bangladesh’s ocean economy stands for 3.1 per cent of the country’s overall GDP.
Shipbuilding, tourism, sustainable fishing, gas and mineral explorations are largely unutilised, he said.
He, however, urged for creating a national blue economy development and implementation roadmap.
To have a strong position in the economic diplomacy, he suggested developing negotiation skills on international trade, WTO matters and relevant international laws for win-win FTAs and PTAs.
‘Our major export destinations are Europe and America covering almost 67 per cent of our total export whereas Africa and Middle East are untapped,’ he said.
‘But after the LDC graduation, export will face a challenge and for that we have to formulate a export diversification strategy engaging all stakeholders,’ Rizwan said.
Tariff rationalisation, reduction of non-tariff barriers in cross-border trade and minimising anti-export bias are also important in this regard, he said.
He also suggest promoting the domestic pharmaceutical sector to tap the export benefits the post-graduation period.
In order to revive private investment and FDI, he suggested a cut in corporate tax rate to 25 per cent.
He also stressed automation of overall taxation, VAT, audit, arrears management, investigation and inquiry, appeal, revenue account management, taxpayer account management and revenue information management.
DCCI senior vice-president Arman Haque and vice-president Monowar Hossain were also present in the conference.
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