The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has declined to provide any exemption from customs duties to Bangladeshi products due to a unified customs tariff system of Gulf countries.
Bangladesh requested the Saudi authorities to exempt customs duties on its 130 products during the fourteenth session of the Saudi-Bangladeshi Joint Committee meeting, held in Riyadh on October 30-31.
To this effect, the embassy of KSA in Dhaka has recently conveyed it to the Bangladesh foreign ministry through a note verbale. A note verbale is a diplomatic communication from one government to another, delivered through each other’s diplomatic representatives.
Bangladesh exported only $290 million to the KSA in the fiscal year (FY) 2021-22. Of the total volume, around $144 million was RMG shipments, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.
But the actual volume of exports to the Gulf country is higher as a significant amount of export is conducted through informal channels, for instance, cargo or baggage.
KSA is the 24th largest export destination of Bangladesh out of 202 countries, while the Gulf country is also the 26th largest destination for Bangladeshi RMG items.
