Bangladesh and Russia is set to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) aimed at boosting trade in this year’s March, says Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.

His comments to the media came on Tuesday (Feb 26) after meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Ignatov.

“Russia is a friend country of Bangladesh. We cannot forget their assistance during our Liberation War. The economic and commercial ties between us are an old one. However, the trade between the countries didn’t increase as we expected due to some complications,” said the minister.

Elaborating on the issue, Munshi said, “Russia is part of a 5-country block— Eurasian Economic Union. The countries in the block cannot individually trade with another country. That’s the reason we are preparing to sign a MoU with Russia which will pave way for us to trade with the country.”

Once the MoU is signed, a banking channel will open up removing all trading complications, added the commerce minister.

Russian envoy Ignatov said, “Russian market has great demand for Bangladeshi products. Once the MoU is signed, the economic and commercial relationship between the countries will improve to a significant extent.”

Ignatov also said that his country is keen to boost trading relationship with Bangladesh.