Dhaka Asks Jakarta to Reopen a Stalled Trade Deal and Cut a $3.5 Billion Gap
Dhaka wants better market access for garments, pharmaceuticals and agricultural goods as talks on a preferential trade agreement remain stalled over duty-free garment exports.
Dhaka — Bangladesh has asked Indonesia to help lift bilateral trade above $10 billion, arguing that the current relationship is almost entirely one-way and will stay that way until market-access barriers come down.
Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir put the request to Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Anis Matta at the Ministry of Commerce in Dhaka on Wednesday. Annual trade is about $4 billion. Of that, Bangladesh imports roughly $3.5 billion from Indonesia and exports only about $56 million the other way.
"If market-access barriers are removed, it is possible to increase trade between the two countries to more than $10 billion," Muktadir said, according to a ministry release. He named garments, pharmaceuticals and farm goods as the exports Dhaka wants to scale up.
The sharpest ask was on medicines. Bangladesh already ships pharmaceuticals to more than 100 countries and wants simpler drug-registration rules in Indonesia. Anis welcomed a proposal for a solo exhibition of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical products in Jakarta and said Indonesia would help arrange it.
Talks on a preferential trade agreement have gone through four rounds and have been stuck since 2023, mainly over duty-free access for Bangladeshi readymade garments. Anis said the two textile industries compete, but the dispute should be identified and worked through. He proposed a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of an international trade fair in Indonesia from 14 to 18 October, and invited Muktadir and a delegation to attend. The two sides also discussed a wider Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Energy was on the table as well. Officials reviewed a proposal for Indonesia's state oil and gas firm Pertamina to operate Bangladesh's Single Point Mooring terminal, and the scope for higher Indonesian coal shipments to Bangladesh's coal-fired plants.
Potato exports, which Bangladesh tried between 2015 and 2019, failed over laboratory testing and registration. Muktadir asked for mutual recognition of lab results. Both sides also discussed recognising each other's halal certificates so trade in halal goods can expand, including possible government-to-government cooperation between the relevant agencies.
Indonesian Ambassador Listyo Wati and officials from both sides attended. The meeting closed with both governments saying they want deeper trade and investment ties — but the numbers show how far that still is. Closing a gap in which Indonesia sells more than 60 times what it buys from Bangladesh will depend on whether the garment dispute that froze the PTA can actually be settled.