Bangladesh is keen to introduce countertrade with Myanmar for strengthening bilateral business relations between the two neighbors, local daily The Financial Express reported Tuesday.

It was decided at an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Commerce Ministry in Dhaka Monday ahead of a tour by a high-powered team led by Foreign Secretary Hemayetuddin to Myanmar during the third week of this month.

According to the daily, Hemayetuddin will formerly propose introduction of this trade mechanism along with other proposals to his counterpart during the official visit to Yangon.

The foreign secretary will also submit a proposal to the Yangon authorities for signing an agreement on contract farming to use fallow land in Myanmar.

Countertrade is the exchange of goods or services where no direct cash transaction takes place. It encompasses simple barter,a counter purchase which is an agreement by a seller to spend all or part of his receipts on purchase from the buyer, and a buy-back,

a deal under which a company opens a plant abroad and agrees to buy all or part of its output.

"Our businessmen are deeply interested to set up industries like paper mills, cement factories and textile mills to use raw materials from Myanmar under the countertrade system," a senior official was quoted as saying by the daily.

The volume of bilateral trade between the two countries has been quite "insignificant" for years mainly due to lack of proper initiatives.

Dhaka exported goods worth only 4.18 million U.S. dollars to Yangon in 2004-05 while the