With the aim of building a smart Bangladesh, experts have urged to take quick steps in the effective implementation of a cross-border paperless trade plan. The speakers made this request at a workshop titled ‘National Validation Workshop on the Update of the Readiness Assessment for Cross-Border Paperless Trade: Bangladesh’ jointly organised by the Ministry of Commerce, ADB, and ESCAP at a hotel in the capital on Wednesday (April 5).
The workshop was presided over by Noor Md. Mahbubul Haque, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce. Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce was the chief guest. Jianbo Nim, Deputy Country Director of ADB in Bangladesh, and Soo Heun, Economics Officer of ESCAP, spoke at the event.
Speakers at the workshop said that Bangladesh has always been playing a leading role in the use of digital technology in every field including digital trade. Digital commerce has witnessed significant growth in recent years and small entrepreneurs are using digital platforms successfully. But digital commerce is happening in isolation. They also said that it is very happy news that the Ministry of Commerce has established a Digital Trade Cell as well as Digital Trade Guidelines to bring digital trade on a single platform and manage it smoothly which is playing a helpful role in digital commerce.
Apart from the Ministry of Commerce, 65 representatives of 36 public and private institutions participated in the day-long workshop. In 2012, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Asia Pacific (ESCAP) conducted a study on cross-border trade with the aim of reducing trade transaction costs in cross-border goods movement and more inclusive participation in the regional and global price order.
A framework agreement was subsequently signed to facilitate cross-border paperless trade. After lengthy negotiations, the Framework Agreement on Trade Facilitation in Asia and the Pacific was adopted on 19 May 2016. Bangladesh ratified the framework agreement in October 2020 and entered into force in February 2021 to accelerate the implementation of digital trade facilitation measures for trade and development.
