DHAKA, Sept 2: Bangladesh’s exports to India, Pakistan and Bhutan marked an impressive growth, but overall sales of products in the regional bloc still remained insignificant, accounting for less than 2.6 per cent of the country’s entire annual exports.

The Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau statistics showed that the country’s exports to the Saarc countries in the fiscal 2004-05 stood at $223 million, while total exports amounted to $8.655 billion.

More than 75 per cent of Bangladesh’s merchandises headed for Europe and North America.

Exports, however, marked a robust growth, at least in terms of percentage, to major regional trading partners — India and Pakistan — by 60 and 40 per cent respectively in 2004-05 over the previous year. The growth was 243 per cent for the tiny Himalayan kingdom, Bhutan.

Trade experts and business leaders feel that the country’s export within the Saarc, which groups Bangladesh with six other South Asian nations, still remains far from the potentials.

In order to tap into the regional markets, special attention and strategies are required from the government as well as businessmen, they suggested.

Bangladesh also needs to diversify export and conduct studies on target markets and negotiate for market access and reduce trade barriers.

The bureau report showed that Bangladesh exported $144 million worth of goods to India, up from $89 million in year ago. The products included frozen fish worth $11 million, agricultural processed products worth $8 million, chemical products worth $45 million, leather worth $3 million, raw jute worth $24 million, jute goods worth $25 million and tea worth $0.5 million.

Exports to Pakistan figured $63 million, with chemicals sharing $16 million, tea $11 million, raw jute $3 million, agro products $0.9 million and jute goods $0.6 million. The amount in the previous fiscal year was $45 million.

Bangladesh exported $4.7m worth of goods to Bhutan where export rose by 243 per cent.