Berlin, June 07 (OurVoice): The Bangladesh Embassy in Berlin, Germany and German Agribusiness Alliance jointly organised a virtual conference on “Bangladesh: Opportunities for Export and Trade of Fishery Products” which was attended by more than 70 participants.
The event was attended by policy makers, experts and business people from Bangladesh and Germany. Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ndc, Honourable Ambassador of Bangladesh to Germany presided over the conference. Rawnak Mahmud, Honourable Secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock of Bangladesh, Moritz zu Knyphausen, Division International Affairs, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Quazi Shams Afroz, Director General, Department of Fishery, Government of Bangladesh, Md. Hafizur Rahman, Additional Secretary (Export), Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh and Dr. Yahia Mahmud, Director General, Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) addressed the conference as guests of honour.
Dr. Matthias Keller, Director German Fish Information Center, Remko Oosterveld, GGN Label Aquaculture Commercial Manager, Global G.A.P. and Lennart Klein, Auditor and Certification Officer, Department Aquaculture & Fisheries, Ecocert spoke on the opportunities and requirements in the German and European market for fishery products from Bangladesh.
The panel discussion was addressed by Prof. Harunur Rashid, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Fisheries Management, Martin Hofstede, CEO, Clama GmbH & Co. KG, Sriram Kummamuru, Manager Inclusive Business, Covestro, Md. Amin Ullah, President of Bangladesh Frozen Fish Exporters Association and Enam Chowdhury, Director, Bangladesh Marine Fisheries Association.
The conference was moderated by Md. Saiful Islam, Commercial Counsellor in Bangladesh Embassy, Berlin and Alina Gumpert, Director, German Business Alliance. The Ambassador Md. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, ndc, welcomed the participants and thanked the organisers for arranging this event. He informed the participants that Bangladesh is one of the world’s leading inland fisheries produce ranking third in terms of production. He mentioned that although the country exports shrimps to Europe, there is enough scope for increase of both shrimp and fresh water fish and urged German business people to invest in Bangladesh for processing and exporting fishes.
Rawnak Mahmud, Secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock of Bangladesh apprised the virtual audience that there is still potential in terms of investments in production, quality and technical know-how. Secretary requested the German side to come forward with cooperation and investment like in deep sea sector and also mentioned in the designated economic zones.
From German side Moritz zu Knyphausen, Division of International Affairs in the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture emphasized how the corona crisis has brought focus on quality and background of purchases such as fish. In this regard he mentioned that the German government adapted the supply chain law last month and also mentioned the EU farm to fork strategy. He concluded that these developments provide tremendous opportunities and are a task for ministries and businesses alike.
German business people also highlighted importance of quality, standard, certification with regard to the European and especially the German market. Especially organic certification provides an opportunity to gain the edge over competing Asian fish producing countries such as Vietnam, China and Indonesia and will help Bangladesh to achieve higher prices.
During the virtual conference with its many valuable and informative contributions from Bangladesh and Germany side it became evident that the fishery sector in Bangladesh holds enormous potential to contribute to the economic advancement of the country. The high calibre and number of speakers and participants highlighted the interest in Bangladesh’s fishery products as exportable items. This virtual conference gave many impulses and will certainly contribute to enhance cooperation between Bangladesh and Germany in the trade relations in the fishery sector.
