Little effort for DITF makeover

The Export Promotion Bureau and the commerce ministry, organisers of Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), have never carried out performance evaluation, which could have helped enhance the effectiveness of the annual event since its inception in 1995. 

They do not even have any data on export orders it generated since 2017. There is only seven years’ data until 2016. The recording stopped when the assigned officer was transferred to another ministry.

Currently, there is no such outcome analysis team for the fair, Commerce Secretary Md Jafar Uddin, chairman of the DITF steering committee, told The Daily Star over the phone.

“It’s a good idea to have a team for that. We will work on it,” he said.

The organisers should appoint experts or professional analysts to find ways for making the show more effective and reap benefits from its outcome, said Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue.

Economic counsellors should be assigned at Bangladesh’s embassies around the world to encourage renowned businesses to take part in the DITF and enable it to reach international standards, Rahman said.

More concentration should be given to ensure continuous improvements to the month-long fair, which is an appreciable arrangement for establishing business to business contact, he said.

Visitors have long been complaining about the poor quality of the products and falling standards of the annual fair.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has also acknowledged at a press conference recently that the fair environment has lost its international flavour.

He said he was trying to shake up proceedings this year to bring back the event’s charm.

“This year we have left some open space in the fairground so that the visitors can walk easily without any human congestion like in previous years.”

“It’s not an international fair anymore. It has become a national showcase,” said Ali Ahmed, CEO of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute.

Famous global firms and manufacturers do not take part in the show, he said.

Some foreign companies, which had been regular participants of the fair, have refrained from coming to Bangladesh because of hassles caused by customs, he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the 25th edition of the fair on January 1 in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

Some 55 foreign companies from 21 countries will take part in this year’s trade fair, the commerce ministry said in a statement.