UK Trade Envoy for Bangladesh Baroness Winterton met Trade Adviser Sheikh Bashiruddin. The meeting was held at the Trade Adviser’s office at the Secretariat on Thursday (October 9, 2025) afternoon.
The meeting discussed in detail various aspects of trade, investment and economic cooperation between Bangladesh and the UK, LDC graduation and the opening of the third terminal of Shahjalal International Airport.
Trade Adviser Sheikh Bashiruddin said that Bangladesh is going to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) list to a developing country in November 2026. This will be an important milestone in our economic journey and this change will create a lot of opportunities as well as some challenges. Bangladesh expects the cooperation of the UK in addressing the possible challenges.
Regarding the launch of the third terminal of Shahjalal International Airport, the Commerce Advisor said, the government is serious about launching the third terminal of Shahjalal International Airport as soon as possible. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism is working on this. He also mentioned that an operator will be appointed to manage the ground handling operations of the terminal.
The UK Trade Envoy said that under the Trade Facilitation Program, Bangladeshi products will get full duty-free access to the UK market until 2029, which will help maintain the country’s export competitiveness during the transition from LDC.
He said that the aim of his visit is to further strengthen the two-way trade and investment relations between the two countries. The two countries need to work together to find new trade and investment opportunities and increase opportunities for mutual prosperity.
UK High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cook and Additional Secretary Exports of the Ministry of Commerce Md. Abdur Rahim Khan were present at the meeting.
