77 companies win National Export Trophy

The government yesterday honoured 77 companies with National Export Trophy for fiscal year 2021-22 primarily for topping the chart in export earnings.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over the trophies of the commerce ministry through a ceremony at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka.

The recipients were sorted under 32 categories and assessed based on National Export Trophy Policy 2013.

This includes value of exports, compliance to law, number of employees, working environment, payment of taxes, investment and annual business growth, said a statement from the commerce ministry.

Based on this, 29 received gold trophies, 27 silver and 21 bronze.

Listed under woven category, Rifat Garments received the highest accolade, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Export Trophy.

This sister concern of leading garment exporter Ha-Meem Group had earlier won the top trophy twice, in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Two more of the group's concerns, Apparel Gallery and Ha-Meem Denim, also received two silver trophies yesterday.

AK Azad, managing director of Ha-Meem Group, said this definitely was a matter of great pleasure and it would inspire him to invest more for business expansion.

Another leading local conglomerate, Pran-RFL Group, won seven trophies, including three gold ones, for its earnings from processed agricultural products, plastic goods, melamine and light engineering products.

Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman and CEO of Pran-RFL Group, said Bangladesh is aiming for hundreds of billions of dollars in export revenue in the coming years by laying emphasis on export diversification.

"So, we have to focus more on potential sectors besides the readymade garments. Pran-RFL Group has been working hard on export diversification and is beginning to see success," he said.

Addressing the exporters, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged exploring new markets for Bangladeshi goods and expanding the country's export basket, reports UNB.

"We'll have to search for new places. We'll have to expand the export basket," the news agency quoted her as saying.

She said a country should not rely on only one export item as its demand would not always be the same.

"Why will we be dependent only on garment items?" she asked.

She expressed her conviction to take the country forward economically by boosting production, export earnings and purchasing power of the country's people.

"We don't want to be dependent on a limited number of goods," she said.