The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT) Africa, West Asia, and South Asia Market Department considers Bangladesh a market rich in potential, awaiting further investigations to fully tap the opportunities presented by its 62 million consumers.
Understanding local tastes and customs
An estimated 89.5% of Bangladeshi citizens identify as Muslim. Increasing exports will require Vietnamese businesses to familiarise themselves with the unique demands of Islamic consumers.
Agriculture employs more than 45% of the Bangladeshi workforce. The country’s main exports include garments and textiles, farm produce, seafood, leather, and jute products.
Vietnam and Bangladesh officially established diplomatic and economic and trade ties in 1993. While Bangladesh opened an embassy in Hanoi during the same year, Vietnam waited ten years to inaugurate its own embassy in Dhaka.
The Joint Committee for Economic, Cultural, Scientific, and Technological Cooperation conducted its first Hanoi session in 2006. Dhaka hosted the second session in 2013.
Both nations have signed 16 agreements and protocols governing diplomatic, economic, trade, and investment cooperation.
Vietnam’s Bangladeshi export turnover increased 750% between 2008 to 2012—from US$47 million to US$354 million.
Export structure and investment opportunities
The economic and trade relationships linking Vietnam and Bangladesh have seen vigorous developments in recent years.
Bilateral import-export increased six-fold from US$65 million in 2008 to US$390 million in 2012. Vietnam has maintained a constant trade surplus from the very beginning of the relationship.
Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs cited earlier speak to the impressive growth of Vietnam’s Bangladeshi export earnings in 2013.
Its best performing export commodities were fibre (US$33.6 million), garments and textiles (US$16.9 million), and machinery, equipment, and spare parts (US$8.7 million).
Some of Vietnam’s other key exports to Bangladesh include clinker, mobile phones, leather, and footwear.
Vietnam’s main Bangladeshi imports are garment and textile materials, pharmaceutical products, and seafood.
Despite their similar export production structures, the Africa, West Asia, and South Asian Market Department believes Vietnam and Bangladesh have much to offer in the way of mutual support.
Bangladesh is making every effort to encourage more foreign investment by keeping labour costs amongst the region’s cheapest, protecting its low land rental rates, and introducing a range of investment incentives.
Vietnamese businesses have faced tough competition from their Bangladeshi counterparts thanks largely to preferential European Union policies.
But Vietnamese businesses can take advantage of these mechanisms, seizing investment and production opportunities in Bangladesh to boost their EU exports.
Vietnamese enterprises should also investigate potentially lucrative openings in Bangladeshi agriculture, mechanical engineering, and industry.
