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Dignitaries and trade leaders attend the BAJUS Jewellery Fashion Carnival 2026 in Dhaka.
Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir on Saturday night called for comprehensive, synchronized public-private initiatives to unlock the untapped international export potential of Bangladesh’s jewellery industry, as the Bangladesh Jewellers Association (BAJUS) unveiled an ambitious target to reach $7 billion in gold and diamond jewellery exports by fiscal year 2030–31.
Addressing the "BAJUS Jewellery Fashion Carnival 2026" in the capital as the chief guest, the Commerce Minister underscored that targeted policy frameworks, technological modernization, and fresh capital investments are vital to transforming the domestic goldsmithing craft into a globally competitive, export-oriented economic driver capable of significantly bolstering Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves. He affirmed the interim government’s resolute commitment to nurturing high-potential domestic industries and cultivating an enabling business landscape across the manufacturing spectrum.
In his written presidential address, BAJUS President Enamul Haque Khan outlined a long-term strategic vision to elevate the jewellery sector into the nation's second-largest export revenue earner by the 2030–31 fiscal year. Highlighting lingering regulatory ambiguities as a major bottleneck to industrial growth, the trade body chief urged authorities to streamline raw gold imports under an equitable, transparent, and non-discriminatory policy framework. The association estimated that facilitating legitimate bullion imports could lower domestic retail jewellery prices by at least BDT 30,000 per bhori, while full implementation of the proposed "Gold Policy-2018 (Amended)-2026" could channel between BDT 2,000 crore and BDT 2,500 crore in annual direct revenue to the national exchequer.
To formalize domestic gold reserves and build an accurate national digital inventory, BAJUS recommended allowing the declaration of undisclosed gold holdings through a nominal, one-time statutory fee—a measure projected to yield an additional BDT 500 crore to BDT 700 crore in state revenues. On the manufacturing front, the association announced plans to facilitate the establishment of 500 state-of-the-art export-oriented jewellery manufacturing units by 2030, a move anticipated to generate 50,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect employment opportunities.
Furthermore, the industry body appealed for 10 bighas of designated land in Dhaka to set up a dedicated specialized industrial enclave named "Swarnapalli," housing high-tech diamond cutting and processing facilities. BAJUS emphasized that rationalizing import tariffs in alignment with neighboring competitive markets and modernizing the Rough Diamond Import-Export (Control) Rules 2006 could empower Bangladesh to capture roughly $2 billion in annual diamond jewellery exports alone by 2031.
The high-profile event drew the participation of Water Resources Minister Md. Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee, former National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan FCMA, senior civil servants, leading business executives, and foreign diplomats. Trade statistics presented at the carnival showed that the sector currently sustains nearly 2.8 million livelihoods across approximately 40,000 retail enterprises and 400,000 skilled artisans. Concluding their presentation, BAJUS leadership expressed gratitude for the fiscal exemptions and VAT concessions granted in the FY 2026–27 national budget, urging the expeditious execution of pending structural reforms.
https://thedailyexpress.news/news/business/1f19eac1-f85c-6520-a2db-d71b71a59ad6