Shipping Charges To Be Cut Down For Garment Sector

According to the Commerce ministry in the second meeting of the subcommittee decision was taken to cut down shipping charge for the apparel sector by 10 percent and to slash 20 per cent stuffing charge.

Chaired by Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, the meeting was also attended by Industries Minister MK Anwar and Shipping Minister Lt Col (retd.) Akbar Hossain.

The subcommittee was formed to encourage the country's export trade and take immediate decision to deal with domestic and international affairs. The subcommittee held its maiden meeting last month.

The meeting was learnt to have discussed, in detail, on the draft report prepared by the Secretary Committee. Commerce Secretary Suhel Ahmed, who sits on the Secretary Committee, spoke in the meeting. Chairman of National Board of Revenue Dr. Shoaib Ahmed is the Member- Secretary of the committee, while representatives of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) are members.

In a move to make the process of export documentation hassle-free, the cabinet subcommittee recommended reducing the existing 15 steps to 5. In addition, the subcommittee suggested reducing the required time limit of the process to three hours, with one hour for the Customs Department and two hours for the Shipping Department, meeting.

 Earlier, it used to take one to three days to accomplish all necessary formalities for processing the export documents.

It also suggested galvanising the Bangladeshi companies for launching their own brands in order to tap the global consumer market.