The minister made the remark at a virtual workshop organized by Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF) in association with RAPID and The Asia Foundation on COVID-19 and Bangladesh Economy.

ERF General Secretary SM Rashidul Islam moderated the function while its president Sarif Islam Dilal was in the chair.

Tipu Munshi said the RGM sector is performing well now despite the Coronavirus pandemic.

“We have 5-6 sectors including RGM which will help our economy to bounce back at the end of this year. We give emphasis on several sectors including leather, electronics, pharmaceuticals, light engineering and jute as these have  good demand in the global market,” he also said.

The minister said they formed a task force to find out internal problems and resolve those for quick economic recovery.

“The task force of the ministry holds meetings regularly and communicates with other ministries concerned. We are also working with 42 countries to improve export volume. We are putting emphasis on the economic zones specially the one in Mirsharai to attract foreigners to invest more here,” he added.

He added the trade conflict between the USA and China may create an opportunity for us. “We have to utilize the opportunity. It will create more jobs and increase our export earnings. We will lose the opportunities if we work slowly now. So we need more support from media to catch the markets and keep the country’s economy dynamic,” he also added.

RAPID chairman Dr Mohammad Abdur Rqzzaque presented the keynote at the workshop-1 titled Covid-19 and International Trade Issue: Policy Options for Promoting Bangladesh's Exports.

Dr Rqzzaque described how the world economy lost $3.8 trillion and 147 million people became unemployed as well as wages dropped by $2.1 trillion.

DCCI president Shams Mahmud, BUILD chairman Abul Kashem Khan, RAPID executive director Dr M Abu Eusuf and others also spoke.