<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Prime Minister's Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman today underscored the need for resuming commercial flights between Dhaka and Tashkent to boost bilateral trade, investment and business among the two countries.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There are huge potentialities to export Bangladeshi products, specially textile, to Uzbekistan. Moreover, Afghanistan, a neighbouring country of Uzbekistan, can be a large market for Bangladesh," he told reporters after a meeting with visiting Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Bakhrom Aloev at Prime Minister's Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser's office in the city's Gulshan area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the meeting, they discussed various issues, including IT, pharmaceutical, tourism, trade and investment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Salman said the government has been developing 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) across the country where the Uzbek businesses can invest in different sectors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He informed that Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies have been sending medicines to 152 countries, including the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia, after meeting the domestic demand.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, there is an ample scope for bilateral cooperation in business arenas like pharmaceuticals and IT, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the meeting, Aloev said he will take measures so the direct flight is established between the two countries soon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He informed that Bangladesh and Uzbekistan can work together in the field of tourism, specially religious tourism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Salman assured Aloev to work together for developing the tourism sector of both countries and informed that Uzbek people can come to Bangladesh to see many attractive places of Bangladesh, including the world largest sea beach in Cox's Bazar, tea gardens in Sylhet and hills of Chittagong Hill Tracts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the 2021-22 fiscal year, Bangladesh exported goods worth $26.33 million to Uzbekistan and imported goods worth $8.80 million, according to the commerce ministry data. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>