The caretaker government is considering shifting of six commercial wings of Bangladesh missions abroad including those in Tehran and Los Angeles to other places for global geopolitical and economic factors. The commerce ministry has also suggested establishing a new commercial council office at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as trade between the two countries has increased.

It has proposed shifting of the commercial council office in Tehran to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, due to UN sanction on Iran over nuclear issue. Trade between Dhaka and Tehran has decreased by $10.5 million during the last 10 months due to the ban on two Iranian banks which were mostly used for Bangladesh’s trade with that country, an estimate by the ministry said.

It pointed out that after the dissolution of Soviet Union, trade restrictions have been withdrawn from Central Asian countries.

The ministry has suggested shifting the Los Angeles commercial council office to Milan, Italy, for its failure to woo investors in information and communication technology (ICT) sector. It has totally failed to collect information on ICT sector in Los Angeles, inspire investors to invest in Bangladesh and achieve technology transfer in ICT sector, the ministry noted. On the other hand, investment and trade ties between Bangladesh and Italy have greatly expanded and a large number of Bangladeshis are working in Milan. “Shifting of Los Angeles commercial office to Milan will help support Bangladeshi workers,” a working paper of the ministry said.

The suggestions by the commerce ministry are based on the views of a high level committee assigned to review export, and look into the issue of changing or shifting the commercial wings of the country’s missions abroad.

The ministry suggested shifting Kula Lumpur commercial wing to Warsaw, Poland, to expand trade and commerce with East European countries. It also proposed to shift Canberra commercial wing to Sydney, Ottawa commercial wing to Toronto, Yangon commercial wing to Seoul, South Korea. A high official of the commerce ministry said Bangladesh has to consider its trade interest first in establishing and running commercial wings abroad as the government is keen to cut misuse of expenditure.