A delegation of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) met with BGMEA President Faruque Hassan at BGMEA's PR office in Gulshan on November 15.

The delegation included South Asian regional representative of Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry and Director of JETRO, New Delhi Takuma Otaki, JETRO Country Representative Yuji Ando, JETRO Representative Kazunori Yamada and Senior Director at JETRO Dhaka S.M. Shariful Alam.  

BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim, Vice President (Finance) Khandoker Rafiqul Islam and Director Md. Imranur Rahman were also present at the meeting.

They discussed possible avenues of expanding trade between Bangladesh and Japan.

The JETRO team and BGMEA leaders expressed willingness to collaboratively organize a webinar to initiate communication between businessmen in Bangladesh and Japan, particularly those who are involved in fashion industry. 

Bangladeshi businessmen will be able to showcase strengths and capabilities through the webinar while Japanese buyers and investors will get the opportunity to explore their trade potential in Bangladesh.

They had discussion on possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA) so that Bangladesh could retain its access to the Japanese market the post-LDC era.  

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan stressed on the importance of fibre diversification and investment in the non-cotton textile sector in Bangladesh and urged JETRO to encourage Japanese businessmen to invest in this area. 

He also sought cooperation of JETRO in developing capacity of BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology (BUFT) in textile, apparel, fashion and business through collaboration with leading Japanese universities and fashion institutes.

Japan and Bangladesh will celebrate 50 years of their diplomatic relations in 2022. They talked about organizing special programs by BGMEA in collaboration with JETRO to celebrate the occasion. The programs will include local events and roadshow and single country fair in Japan.