Bangladesh Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury has announced that the country plans to boost its leather and leather goods exports target to 2% of the total global trade in the sector from the existing 0.4%. Mr Chowdhury made the announcement at the inaugural session of a two-day workshop, 'SHAPE: Future Development of the Leather Sector in Bangladesh’, organised by the Leather Sector Business Promotion Council (LSBPC) in collaboration with ITC-Geneva under the Asia Fund Project of the European Council (EC).

The minister said that the proposed Bangladesh Leather Service Centre, an outlet of the International Trade Centre (ITC-Geneva), will be launched very soon at the Bangladesh College of Leather Technology.

Referring to the current global leather trade which amounts to $65 billion a year, Mr Chowdhury said, "Bangladesh, given its present production capacity of raw hides and skins, and the value addition potential, should be able to attain at least 2% of the global trade as against the present 0.4%.”

He added that the government has identified the leather sector as a thrust sector in its Export Policy of 2003-2006 and it would continue to provide strategic and logistical support for the development of the sector, which contributes almost 3.5% of the country's total export earnings.