A total of 24 out of 44 Bangladesh missions abroad could not achieve their respective export targets for the July-May period of the last fiscal, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

During the period, these 24 missions lagged behind the target of exports worth $4885 million, fetching only $4179.61, that is $705.39 million less.

Besides, eight out of 16 commercial wings in the foreign missions also failed to reach their export targets set for the same period.

However, although 24 missions could not achieve their export targets, export growth of 15 missions including Washington, Paris, Ottawa, Ankara, Islamabad, Beijing, Bangkok, Moscow, Manama, Nairobi, Kuwait, Pretoria, Doha, Manila and Hanoi was higher than that in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The rest 9 missions, including Tehran, Seoul, Canberra, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Tashkent, Thimphu, Katmandu and Muscat completely failed to reach the target set for 11 months for the last fiscal.

A leading businessman of the country said missions' officials are not skilled enough to understand global market trends and they even do not know how to impress the foreign buyers.

"The mission officials also fail to give update information regarding business opportunities of Bangladeshi products in their destinations," he told The Daily Star.

A commerce ministry official attributed failure in promoting country's export in the foreign market to lack of proper training of the mission officials, of whom a major portion were appointed on political consideration.

He also alleged that the missions' officials were not often found co-operating with the country's businessmen if their help sought.

He suggested establishing separate trade facilitation center in every country where Bangladeshis export most of their products.

As per the data given by the state-run export promotional agency, of the total 44 missions, as many as 20 missions including Berlin, London, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, The Hague, Stockholm, New Delhi, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Riyadh, Dubai, Amman, Cairo, Colombo, Rabat, Yongoon, Tripoli and Brunai successfully achieved their target set for the period.

The target for these missions was $4400.57million whereas they fetched $5036.44million during the timeframe, that is, $635.87million more than the target.

From the statistics of mission-wise export target and achievement, it also shows that out of 16 only eight commercial wings achieved the export target and eight commercial wings could not achieve target set for them during the period.

These eight commercial wings are based in Washington, Paris, Ottawa, Beijing, Tehran, Canberra, Moscow and Kuala Lumpur.

Although eight commercial wings could not achieve their export target but out of them, performance of five commercial wings based in Washington, Paris, Ottawa, Beijing and Moscow was found better than that in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The rest three commercial wings based in Tehran, Canberra, Moscow and Kuala Lumpur fully failed to achieve the target set for the period.

The target set for these unsuccessful commercial wings was $3992.58million, whereas they fetched $3876.72 million during the period.

However, the commercial wings in Berlin, London, New Delhi, Brussels, Tokyo, Dubai, Yongon, and Madrid went ahead of their target of $3302.39million, earning $3748.02million during the period.

The actual export earning for the July-May period of FY 2005-06 was $9410.55 million as against the target of $9094.51 million, a 3.48 percent higher than the target and 20.89 percent more than that in the corresponding period of the previous year, EPB statistics shows.