The country needs a national policy to monitor the aid for trade, speakers told a discussion in Dhaka on September 15. The aid for trade development should be focused on capacity building, infrastructure development and product diversification, they added at the discussion titled ‘Aid for Trade and Supply Side Constraints Faced by the SMEs’.

Donor agencies need to offer unconditional loans for trade development, they told the discussion, jointly organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Oxfam GB, an international NGO. “Donor agencies appoint consultants for trade development. But we need aid for trade based on our own requirements,” said Badrul Ahsan, former economic minister in Bangladesh’s Geneva mission. Echoing him, Sharifa Khan, director of WTO Cell at commerce ministry, said the country needs unconditional grants for trade development.

Emphasising the need for product and market diversification, Faridul Hassan, director general of Export Promotion Bureau, said the country should not depend on a few export items. Manzur Ahmed, former director of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said a conference in Manila will be held this year in the context of ‘Aid for Trade’ initiative, which was launched in December 2005 at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.

DCCI President Hossain Khaled said, “We have to initiate always new ideas to make best use of foreign trade assistances.” Sayed Mohammed Nurul Alam, acting country representative of Oxfam GB, also spoke.