Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said Bangladesh has set a $51-billion export target for the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

“The government has set the target considering all the national and international issues. Of the target, 43.50 billion US dollars will come from goods' exports while 7.50 billion US dollars from the services sector,” he said while speaking at a virtual press briefing at the conference room of his ministry on Tuesday.

This year, the minister said, the government has set a target to achieve a 12.37% export growth. “If the current export trend continues, then it’ll be possible to achieve the target.”

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Besides, Tipu said, the government has taken steps to enlarge the export basket and expand the market. To give a boost to the export, the exporters and those related in export should work sincerely amid this Covid-19 pandemic.

More importantly, he said, a business-friendly government is working with utmost sincerity to increase exports and a number of projects have been taken to make the export-oriented sector more efficient, he said.

Apart from the readymade garments, there is a huge possibility of exporting light engineering, ICT, leather, leather goods, plastic and agricultural products of Bangladesh and, the ministry is implementing a project with financial support from the World Bank to make the sectors stronger, the minister added.

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Last year, the government had set a target to achieve a 48-billion US dollar export target and the country has achieved 45.39 billion US dollars of it.

Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh and Vice Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) AHM Ahsan also spoke at the programme.