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28 March 2024


Business Insider Bangladesh

Bangladesh-China trade disputes jump, committee formed to mediate

BI Special || BusinessInsider

Published: 11:09, 20 May 2022  
Bangladesh-China trade disputes jump, committee formed to mediate

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Many Bangladeshi importers are complaining against Chinese suppliers that they did not get their due products both parties agreed on. Also, Bangladeshis are complaining about the quality and weight of the products supplied by China.

Chinese suppliers also have complaints against Bangladeshi importers. They said some parties in Bangladesh are not receiving containers. Even they accused some Bangladeshis of non-payments.

Trade disputes between these two countries have increased significantly as China followed strict Covid-19 restrictions for the last two years and foreigners could not visit China. Even today China is not issuing visas.

Amid this situation, the Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCCI) was forced to form a dispute settlement committee, comprising experts, in the third week of April.

“Initially, we will deal with four types of disputes, which we are getting the most,” Al Mamun Mridha, joint secretary general of BCCCI, told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

The highest disputes have been lodged over banking, insurance and quality of products, Mridha said.

“Our dispute settlement committee will basically do mediation and we will go for arbitration if both parties authorise us,” he said.

China is Bangladesh’s largest trading partner as the latter’s one-fourth of imports come from the former. So, more disputes are coming from more trades, businesses say.

Bangladesh Bank data showed the country bought nearly $13 billion worth of goods or 25.3 percent of its total imports from China in fiscal 2020-21, also a coronavirus pandemic year.

Bangladesh imports lots of raw materials and industrial chemicals, cotton, man-made fibre, electrical and electronics from China.

Muhammad A. (Rumee) Ali, the former CEO of the Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC), welcomed the move as he said disputes may cost a company or a country’s image badly.

“Disputes create trust deficit, which may hamper overall trade,” told the Business Insider Bangladesh on Thursday.

He, however, said mediation is not a structured system and parties involved may have a lack of trust in mediators.

Ali who served the BIAC as its CEO for nearly six years since 2015 and is now on its board as vice chairman, suggested the BCCCI partner with the BIAC for effective and credible arbitration of disputes.

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