Exports of the country attained a 40 percent growth in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, the commerce minister tells parliament.
Faruk Khan on Monday said exports would surpass the target by the end of 2010-11 fiscal year, beginning on July 1 last year.
In the whole year, Bangladesh would be able to earn over $20 billion against the target of $18.5 billion, he hoped.
Earlier, the parliament session began around 5:20pm with speaker Abdul Hamid in the chair.
Responding to Sirajganj-4 MP Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, the minister said country's economy faced difficulties after the current government came to power due to the global economic meltdown.
He claimed that when neighbouring India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia and Thailand were facing negative growth in exports, Bangladesh saw 4.11 percent positive growth in 2009-10 fiscal year, when it earned around $16 billion form overseas sales.
Replying to another query put by Comilla-8 MP Nasimul Alam Chowdhury, the minister said the country earned $4.82 million from tea exports in 2010-11 fiscal year.
QUOTA-FREE ACCESS
Faruk said Bangladeshi goods are enjoying quota-free access to 49 countries.
"All Bangladeshi items, but arms, have quota-free access to 27 countries of the European Union," he said.
The other counties offering Bangladesh the advantage include Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, New Zealand, USA, Turkey, Japan, Russian Federation, Belarus, Thailand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, India, China, Malaysia, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, the Maldives and Afghanistan.
"Bangladesh has 100 percent quota-free access to Norway, Australia and New Zealand and 98.9 percent in Canada."
In response to a query by Netrakona-1 MP Mostaque Ahmed Ruhi, the minister said initiatives were underway to secure more quote-free access to China, which "has already given the advantage to 4,721 products".
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