Bangladesh will urge Brazil to narrow the trade gap with Brazil during the talks between visiting Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, scheduled to be held in Dhaka today (Sunday), sources said.
The Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira leads a 24-member business delegation to Dhaka for a two day visit on April 7-8. A delegation of FBCCI, the apex trade body of the country, will also meet with them.
Earlier Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said that Bangladesh and Brazil are expected to sign an agreement and three MoUs during the visit of Brazilian Minister.
Brazil was the fifth largest import source of Bangladesh in 2022-23 fiscal year with import recorded at 2592.5 million US dollars (3.80 per cent of total import). The total import of Bangladesh recorded at 68459.9 million US dollars, according to the data of Bangladesh Bank.
Brazil was the eighth largest import source of Bangladesh in 2021-22 fiscal year with import recorded at 2245.1 million (3.00 per cent of total import). The total import of Bangladesh recorded at 75,604.4 million US dollars, according to the data of Bangladesh Bank.
Bangladesh exported goods worth 175538064.3 US dollars (175 million US dollars) to Brazil as against its import of 2592.5 million making a trade gap of overt 2400 million US dollars. Bangladesh also exported goods worth 136609688.1 US dollars (136 million US dollars) during July-February period of the 2023-24 fiscal year to the Latin American country.
Former BGMEA Vice-president Shahidullah Azim while talking to this correspondent recently said that Bangladesh should penetrate deeply into the Latin American market, especially in Brazil as the latter is becoming an emerging economy in the Latin America.
“The competitiveness and strength of our textile and clothing industries have increased over the last 40 years since the journey began in the late 70s. Brazil is an important economy in the Latin America. Our exporters have the capacity to tap that market” said Shahidullah Azim
Brazil imported textiles and clothing worth 5.9 billion US dollars in 2022. China was top exporter with 3476.1 million US dollars, followed by India with 317.7 million US dollars , Paraguay 230.3 million US dollars, USA with 156.3 million US dollars, Vietnam with 151.6 million, Bangladesh with 150.6 million and Indonesia with 138.1 million US dollars….
Commerce ministry sources said Bangladesh will explore pros and cons of exporting goods to Brazil market
Brazil is the fourth largest cotton producer and second top exporter while Bangladesh is the second largest cotton importer in the world.
In 2022, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brazilian nominal GDP was US$1.833 trillion. The GDP per capita was US$8,570 per inhabitant. Brazil has a long history of being among the ten largest economies in the world and rich in natural resources.
The Brazilian foreign minister will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and hold a bilateral meeting with Hasan Mahmud.