Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman has underscored the need for resuming commercial flights between Dhaka and Tashkent to boost bilateral trade, investment and business among the two countries.

“There are huge potentialities to export Bangladeshi products, specially textile, to Uzbekistan. Moreover, Afghanistan, a neighboring country of Uzbekistan, can be a large market for Bangladesh”, he told reporters after a meeting with visiting Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Bakhrom Aloev at Prime Minister’s Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser’s office in the city’s Gulshan area.

During the meeting, they discussed various issues, including IT, pharmaceutical, tourism, trade and investment.

Salman said the government has been developing 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) across the country where the Uzbek businesses can invest in different sectors.

He informed that Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies have been sending medicines to 152 countries, including the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia, after meeting the domestic demand.

So, there is an ample scope for bilateral cooperation in business arenas like pharmaceuticals and IT, he added.

During the meeting, Bakhrom Aloev said he will take measures so the direct flight is established between the two countries soon.

He informed that Bangladesh and Uzbekistan can work together in the field of tourism, specially religious tourism.

Salman F Rahman assured Bakhrom Aloev to work together for developing the tourism sector of both countries and informed that Uzbek people can come to Bangladesh to see many attractive places of Bangladesh, including the world largest sea beach in Cox’s Bazar, tea gardens in Sylhet and hills of Chittagong Hill Tracts.

In the 2021-22 fiscal year, Bangladesh exported goods worth $26.33 million to Uzbekistan and imported goods worth $8.80 million, according to the commerce ministry data.