DHAKA, March 10 (Xinhuanet) --Bangladesh will launch a week-long
marketing blitz in Yangon on March 26 to boost trade and economic
ties with neighboring Myanmar and attract more business,
   A source in the Commerce ministry Sunday said that signing of a
coastal shipping agreement between the two countries is expected
to cap the event, termed as the Bangladesh Festival.
   This is for the first time that the foreign and commerce
ministries have joined hands to project the country's commodities
in a neighboring country towards increasing trade volume.
   The festival is intended to explore alternative markets for
different exportable items and also introduce several Bangladesh
goods to the local population.
   Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, due to leave
Dhaka on March 24 at the head of a 60-member delegation, and his
Myanmar counterpart Brigadier general Pyi Sone will jointly
inaugurate the festival.
   Bangladesh entrepreneurs familiar with Myanmar market feel that
through more projection of Bangladeshi commodities, exporters can
expect to make further inroads into the Yangon markets.
   Products ranging from cosmetics to toiletries and newsprint to
fertilizer are due to receive boost.
   The proposed agreement aims at establishing a coastal shipping
line that will provide sea links between the Bangladesh ports of
Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Teknaf, the last tip of Bangladesh,
and the Myanmar ones of Yangon, Akyub and Maungdaw.
   The proposed shipping line will enhance bulk movement of cargo
and restore a very old trading route in the region.
   According to available figures, Bangladesh exported goods worth
22.3 million U.S. dollars to Myanmar while importing products
worth 1.3 million dollars in the last fiscal.
   A border trade agreement between the two countries is already
in force.  Enditem