In February I was as asked to be the new Trade Envoy to Bangladesh. I jumped at the chance, I see this as a great opportunity for a completely different kind of role within my capacity as an MP. Another reason as to why this new position interested me is because I am aware that, in Ipswich, we have a British Bangladeshi community which I also represent.

The role of a Trade Envoy is an interesting one. The Prime Minister’s Trade Envoys are a selection of parliamentarians, appointed and drawn from the House of Commons and House of Lords. Envoys engage with their respective nations where Britain has identified mutual trade and investment opportunities – building bridges and forging strong relations with those countries and their counterparts from said nations.

There are currently 37 active Trade Envoys, and I am very honoured to have been asked to be one of them. Another example is former England Cricket captain and legendary all-rounder Lord Botham, who is currently the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Australia.

I am very keen to increase trade between our two nations. Bangladesh has an economy that has come on leaps and bounds– with the countries GDP growing an average of 6% a year in recent times. In fact, under their current growth rate, they are predicted to move into a higher level of economic development on the Human Development Index in the near future. This all helped by the fact that they have a youthful and dynamic economy.

We import many of our textiles and garments from Bangladesh – I have visited Dhaka, where many of these things are produced and then shipped to the UK. Currently we import 3.9 billion pounds worth of goods from Bangladesh and export 800-900 million pounds worth of our produce and goods to them. This amount of trade is already positive; however, we are currently engaged in a trade deficit, and I am very keen on bringing more of balance to this relationship. I am a huge supporter of British manufacturing and believe that we need to make, grow, and source more of our goods, food and resources in this country, one of the benefits of this is so we can trade more evenly with friendly nations – like Bangladesh. Because of the nature of my role I am unable to divulge specifics but there are very exciting potential developments on the horizon that would make a great difference to increasing our exports.

I had a round table meeting with the Bangladeshi High Commissioner and some of the leading British-Bangladeshi businessmen and women who want to increase our exports. I want Britain and Bangladesh to have a mutually beneficial relationship - we have a shared history that has continued to grow more positively as time has gone on – being a valued member of the commonwealth. Our commonwealth ties are not connections, that I believe, we have made the most of historically and I think that there is an immense amount of potential for strong, fruitful, and positive trading relationships within the commonwealth based on strong ties of friendship and shared history.

Although the role is primarily about trade and economics, I have also been learning a lot about Bangladeshi history. I addressed a room of British Bangladeshi’s this week in commemoration of the anniversary of the 1971 genocide on Bangladeshi people, that took place at the hands of the Pakistani military Junta. These brutal atrocities are something that need to be more internationally recognised.

This job is about strengthening the ties between Britain and Bangladesh and forming an even greater trading relationship but also making that relationship more balanced – promoting and supporting British manufacturing and being involved in British goods being exported around the world. This will create jobs in Britain and its crucial that we fully utilise our precious commonwealth links with one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Tom Hunt is Conservative MP for Ipswich