Pakistani home textile manufacturers yesterday expressed interest in relocating their units to Bangladesh to gain easy market access to Europe.
They also showed their eagerness to invest in Bangladesh's textile sector to take the advantage of lucrative incentives and availability of skilled but cheap workforce.
The Pakistanis showed the interest when a 13-member delegation headed by Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association Chairman Shabir Ahmed met leaders of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) in Dhaka.
The Pakistanis will be able to reap the advantages given by the developed countries to Bangladesh of duty-free market access for being a least developed country (LDC).
The Pakistani delegation however pointed out high freight charges and 'poor' banking transaction system as major hindrances to investment in Bangladesh.
The BTMA leaders requested the Pakistani entrepreneurs to invest in Bangladesh without any hesitation to get the preferential market access to the EU countries.
The BTMA leaders also said Bangladesh is enjoying better market access to Europe and US than Pakistan.
They said Pakistani entrepreneurs will get 26 percent duty facility to the European markets if they manufacture and export from Bangladesh.
The BTMA leaders also listed incentives, available in Bangladesh, such as bond facility and duty free import facility of capital machinery.
The Pakistani businessmen inquired about other aspects such as interest rate and transaction rate.
As the world retailers are offering low prices manufactures in South Asian region should work together, said Sabir Ahmed, the Pak delegation chief.
The Pakistani businessmen proposed to work jointly for a direct road link between Karachi and Dhaka.
The BTMA holds a dialogue on 'Investment Potentiality in Bangladeshi Textile Sector' with the Pakistani business leaders today in Dhaka.
Currently Bangladesh is exporting home-textile worth 131.75 million euros while Pakistan earned 1.21 billion euros annually.
Other Pakistani delegates included Aziz Latif Jamil, Zahur Ahmed, Waqar Sattar, Saqib Bilwani, and Naqi Bari. The BTMA leaders present at the meeting were Jahangir Alamin, Jamal Uddin, Md Shajahan, A Matin Chowdhury, and Abdul Hai Sarker.
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