Dhaka: Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) on Sunday urged the government to work jointly with the governments of the UK and Australia to improve the security requirement for lifting the ban imposed by the two countries on direct cargo flight from Bangladesh.

‘DCCI feels that if this ban is not lifted soon, Bangladeshi exporters will have to export their products through Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand or Dubai which will definitely increase cost of doing business,’ the business body said in a press release.

On 8 March, the UK government banned air cargo directly from Dhaka citing Bangladesh’s failure to meet international security requirements. Australia also banned direct cargo flight from Bangladesh citing the same concern on 19 December last year.

DCCI thinks that this ban will have a serious impact on the country’s export to the UK, the 3rd largest garment export destination after Germany.  

For better security arrangements, the government should look into the matter now seriously, said the DCCI release.