Bangladesh and India can derive immense benefits in trading services, said speakers at a meeting as the two neighbors continue to work on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

The Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTI), assigned to conduct a joint feasibility study on (CEPA) by the country’s commerce ministry, virtually organized the second consultation meeting with the stakeholders.

The meeting focused on promoting service sectors including tourism and travel-related services, engineering services, IT and IT-Enabled Services, health-related services, construction services in Bangladesh, Prothom Alo reported.

Md Jafar Uddin, senior secretary of the ministry of commerce, said “Service is a vibrant driver of economic growth, employment generation, poverty elevation, and critical in sustaining export-driven growth”.

He noted that “the export-driven manufacturing sector reached a new high with an average 12.7 percent growth, supported by the greater role of modern service sector activities in areas like transport, banking, real estate, ICT and education”.

He pointed out that the service sector’s contribution to the country’s international trade is also growing and it could become a key component for future growth acceleration.

Public sector officials, business leaders, academicians and representatives from different associations participated in the meeting as stakeholders.

They said like manufactured products, many services can now be traded and Bangladesh should concentrate on this to reduce the trade deficit with India.

The stakeholders expected that the proposed CEPA agreement will enhance the basis for increasing trade in other services sectors for mutual interest and ease of doing business.

(SAM)