Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday invited Argentine companies to explore joint venture opportunities with their Bangladeshi counterparts in the pharmaceutical and active pharmaceutical ingredients industries.

DCCI president Ashraf Ahmed urged the Argentine investors and companies to take advantage of the incentives offered by the Bangladesh government in the pharmaceutical and active pharmaceutical ingredients sectors.

The DCCI president also requested the Argentine importers to import more garment products from Bangladesh along with jute, jute goods, leather and leather products, medicine and plastic products.

He made the request during a meeting with ambassador of Argentina in Bangladesh Marcelo Carlos Sesa held at the DCCI in the capital, said a press release.

The DCCI president also pointed out that higher tariff while exporting goods from Bangladesh to Argentina might be re-considered by the relevant authority to boost exports in the future.

Ashraf said that Bangladesh was doing very good in the IT industry, therefore, Argentina could import software and IT professionals from Bangladesh.

Later, he emphasised arranging regular B2B matchmaking meetings even in the online platform among the businessmen of both countries so that they can know each other’s market strength and demand.

The DCCI president informed the ambassador that any Argentine company could avail the facility of DCCI’s commercial research on specific market or product to know the market potential.

During the meeting, Ashraf said that, recently, the establishment of the permanent mission of Argentina in Bangladesh had created an opportunity to expand bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.

He said that the amount of bilateral trade in the FY 2022-23 was $678.78 million while the amount of imports and exports of Bangladesh were $663.34 million and $14.55 million respectively.

Marcelo Carlos Sesa said that despite having a great potential of bilateral trade and investment, it had not reached to the desired level mainly due to the lack of communication between businessmen of the two countries.

He said that Argentina could play an important role as a ‘hub’ for Bangladesh’s trade and investment in the South American region.

The ‘Mercosur’ economic alliance has been formed comprising with four South American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay— who enjoy duty-free import-export benefit among them, he mentioned.

The envoy also encouraged Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to invest in Argentina to seize this opportunity.

He requested the DCCI to send a business delegation to Argentina to explore a new window of opportunity.

At the same time, the ambassador also suggested signing a memorandum of understanding between Dhaka chamber and Argentina’s leading chambers and associations to foster bilateral relations ahead.

DCCI senior vice-president Malik Talha Ismail Bari, vice-president Md. Junaed Ibna Ali and deputy head of mission of Argentina embassy in Bangladesh Maximiliano Romanello were also present.