Ctg trade fair off to a poor start

The Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has organised an “international” fair with no such participant and with just two pavilions completing preparations to welcome visitors on the opening day.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi inaugurated the month-long “6th Bangladesh International Trade and Export Fair – 2019” as chief guest on the port city’s Outer Stadium yesterday.

Convener of the fair’s organising committee, Aminuzzaman Bhuiyan, in a speech said there were 240 stalls and four pavilions representing the country’s businesses.

On the preparations, he said they had to start anyway since the space had been allotted to them for only one month.

Informing that structures of the stalls were already up, he hoped for most of the participating firms to open their displays within two or three days.

“Actually, we have been unable to hold this fair at the old venue in Abahani Playground in Halishahar since last year due to ongoing construction on an adjoining road,” Bhuiyan said.

He said they had organised the fair four times at that venue and those had become popular. He hoped for the new venue to gain popularity within a few days.

Munshi, in the inauguration speech, underscored the need for diversifying the country’s export basket to achieve $60 billion in export earnings within the next few years.

Bangladesh’s trade volume with India will increase since the neighbour’s landlocked northeastern states are eager to carry out their foreign trade through the Chattogram port, he said.

Urging young entrepreneurs to explore non-traditional goods while widening the export basket, Munshi said trade fairs could help display products of cottage industries around the country.