Bangladesh Waives Booth Rent for Small Exporters at International Trade Fairs

Dhaka, July 27, 2026 — Commerce, Industries and Jute and Textiles Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir today announced that the Bangladesh government will waive booth rent for small entrepreneurs participating in international trade fairs, in a move aimed at expanding the country's export base and broadening participation in overseas market development. 💰

🏛 Speaking as the chief guest at a debriefing session on the 10th China-South Asia Expo and the 30th China-Kunming Import-Export Fair 2026 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre in Purbachal, the minister said the initiative aims to enable more small businesses to showcase their products in overseas markets and compete for international buyers on a level playing field.

👥 He said small entrepreneurs play an immense role in the country's export sector, but many are unable to participate in overseas exhibitions due to financial constraints — a structural barrier that has historically limited the diversification of Bangladesh's export basket beyond the dominant readymade garment sector.

🤝 A People-Oriented Government's Export Push

✅ Describing the present administration as a people-oriented government, Muktadir said a series of measures is being taken to make doing business easier for small entrepreneurs across the country. As part of the broader initiative, he announced that the validity of trade licences will be extended to five years — a significant reduction in regulatory friction for the country's millions of small business owners.

📱 The minister also said an online system is being developed to allow businesspeople to obtain trade licences from home, eliminating the need for repeated visits to local government offices and reducing opportunities for bureaucratic delay. The digital licensing initiative aligns with the government's broader push to digitise public services and improve Bangladesh's ranking in global ease-of-doing-business indices.

📊 Key Measures Announced

📋 The government's new package of support for small exporters and entrepreneurs includes:

• 💲 Booth rent waiver — for small entrepreneurs participating in international trade fairs
• 📅 5-year trade licence validity — reduced renewal frequency and lower compliance burden
• 💻 Online trade licence issuance — digital application and processing from home
• 🤝 Continued government support — to strengthen export competitiveness for small businesses

📊 Together, these measures are designed to lower the cost of formalisation for small businesses and reduce the barriers to international market entry — addressing two of the most commonly cited constraints by Bangladeshi SME exporters.

🏛 EPB's Role in Export Promotion

👥 The debriefing session was chaired by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Vice Chairman and CEO Mohammad Hasan Arif, who has been leading the government agency's efforts to expand Bangladesh's presence in international trade fairs and exhibitions. The EPB has traditionally played a central role in coordinating Bangladeshi participation in major overseas trade events, organising national pavilions, and facilitating matchmaking between local exporters and foreign buyers.

🌏 The session heard experiences and recommendations from entrepreneurs who took part in the Kunming fair — one of China's largest regional trade events — with participants sharing insights on buyer preferences, product-market fit, and operational challenges encountered during the expo. The minister assured them of continued government support to strengthen export competitiveness.

🇨🇳 China-South Asia Expo and Kunming Fair Context

📊 The China-South Asia Expo and the China-Kunming Import-Export Fair are among the most important regional trade platforms connecting South Asian exporters with Chinese buyers and distributors. The 10th edition of the China-South Asia Expo and the 30th edition of the Kunming Import-Export Fair were held in 2026, with Bangladesh participating alongside other South Asian nations.

🌏 For Bangladesh, these platforms offer a strategic opportunity to:

• 👕 Showcase export products — including apparel, leather, jute, pharmaceuticals, and agro-processed goods
• 🤝 Build buyer relationships — with Chinese importers and regional distributors
• 📈 Diversify export destinations — reducing dependence on traditional Western markets
• 💼 Test product-market fit — gathering feedback on packaging, quality, and pricing

💰 Why Small Exporters Matter for Bangladesh

👥 Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for a significant share of Bangladesh's non-RMG export basket, particularly in sectors such as leather goods, jute products, handicrafts, agro-processed foods, and light engineering. However, these enterprises often face structural disadvantages compared to large conglomerates when it comes to international market entry, including limited access to finance, weaker brand recognition, and higher per-unit logistics costs.

⚠ The booth rent waiver addresses one of the most direct financial barriers — the upfront cost of securing exhibition space at international trade fairs, which can range from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the venue and booth size. For a small exporter, this cost alone can be prohibitive, even before factoring in travel, accommodation, sample shipping, and marketing materials.

📊 By removing this barrier, the government hopes to enable a wider range of Bangladeshi SMEs to participate in overseas trade events, build relationships with foreign buyers, and gradually expand Bangladesh's export footprint beyond the dominant RMG sector.

📜 Aligning With Broader Export Diversification Strategy

🌏 The announcement aligns with the government's broader export diversification strategy, which has gained urgency amid ongoing global trade uncertainties — including the new 10 percent US tariff on Bangladeshi goods, weak demand in European markets, and structural shifts in the global apparel trade. Diversifying both export products and export destinations has become a central pillar of Bangladesh's trade policy response to these headwinds.

📊 With the government having set an ambitious $63.4 billion export target for FY2026-27 — representing 15 percent growth over the previous fiscal year — initiatives that expand the pool of participating exporters and the range of products on offer at international trade events are critical to achieving the target. The booth rent waiver is expected to be particularly impactful for first-time exporters and small producers who have traditionally been excluded from international market development opportunities.

🚢 Looking Ahead

🤝 For the country's small business community, the minister's announcement represents one of the most concrete pro-SME policy moves from the new government. The combination of booth rent waivers, longer trade licence validity, and online licensing promises to meaningfully reduce the cost and complexity of doing business for small exporters — provided the measures are implemented effectively at the operational level.

📊 Implementation details — including eligibility criteria for the booth rent waiver, the timeline for the online licensing system, and the procedural requirements for accessing the new five-year trade licences — are expected to be finalised in the coming weeks. EPB and the Ministry of Commerce will likely play lead roles in operationalising the announcement, in coordination with local government authorities responsible for trade licence issuance.

🌏 For Bangladesh's small exporters, the message from Purbachal was clear: the government wants more of them on the global stage, and is willing to remove some of the financial barriers that have historically kept them on the sidelines of international trade.