The Bangladesh government has urged the Philippines for a designation of an air service that would link Manila and Dhaka through a third country to further open up trade and improve bilateral economic relations between the countries while the bilateral air services agreement has yet to be operationalized.

Bangladeshi Ambassador to the Philippines Ikhtiar M. Chowdhury told Business Bulletin in an interview that both countries can designate a Manila-HongKong-Dhaka or Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur-Manila route.

Chowdhury said this can be done in the meantime while the bilateral Air Services Agreement, which was forged in 1998 has yet to be operationalized. He said that Bangladesh would make a pitch for the air service deal under the new administration of President Simeon Benigno Aquino III.

“If we cannot put up a direct air linkage between Manila and Dhaka, we can designate direct route via third country,” Chowhury said.

Ten years ago, the Ambassador said, the Manila-Dhaka route was not viable. This time, he said, there are already several thousands of Bangladeshi workers in Kuala Lumpur. There are also several Filipino workers in Hong Kong.

“If we can designate a Dhaka-HK-Manila or Dhaka-KL-Manila route, I think airlines would be able to pocket substantive amount of profit,” he said.

“We need connectivity and frequent contacts between our business people to improve our trade relations,” he said. Chowdhury said that bilateral trade between the two countries has been very limited although it has been growing year on year. This year, he expects two way trade to improve by as much as 15 percent as Bangladesh is starting to export generic medicines into the Philippines.

Two-way trade between Manila and Dhaka reached between $65 million to $70 million last year with the balance of trade heavily in favor of Manila.