Bangladesh, Mexico to sign deal to curb smuggling
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) looks to sign an agreement with its Mexican counterpart on customs matters in a bid to curb smuggling and misde-claration and boost trade between Bangladesh and Mexico.
The plan coincides with the government's focus on finding new markets for exports and narrowing Bangladesh's dependence on the two major destinations: Europe and the USA.
“The agreement will deepen communications between the two countries," an official of NBR said, asking not to be named.
The foreign ministry has already opened an office in Brazil, aiming to boost trade with the Latin American countries. The ministry also plans to open another office in Mexico.
Two-way trade between Bangladesh and Mexico rose to $96 million in fiscal 2010-11 from $80 million the previous year, according to data from Bangladesh Tariff Commission.
The balance favours Bangladesh that mainly exports clothing items to Mexico. Major exports from Bangladesh were cotton, carboxylic acids and textile carding machines.
“One of our main goals is to facilitate export growth in the Mexican market, which remains largely untapped," he said.
A three-member team from the NBR is likely to visit the North American country in March to finalise the deal, known as Agreement on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters.
The NBR took the decision two years after its Mexican counterpart offered to sign the agreement.
Currently, Bangladesh gets customs-related assistance from the other member countries under the Saarc and D-8. Apart from the two groupings, the country has signed a similar deal with Turkey,
"Mexico will be the second country after Turkey. Our talks with Qatar, Iran and European Union are on to sign such agreements," the official said.
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