The Daily Star
Foreign companies that took part in the Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit 2021 have shown interest to invest $1.16 billion in the country, according to the organisers of the event, which concluded on Sunday.
“We received expressions of interest for foreign investment, particularly in the infrastructure sector, which we will forward to the commerce ministry,” said Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) yesterday.
He made the remarks while speaking at a media briefing on the outcome of the summit at the conference room of the chamber in Dhaka.
The commerce ministry and the DCCI jointly organised the week-long summit, where 552 business-people, investors and top executives from 38 countries, including Bangladesh, took part.
Twenty companies from 13 countries showed interest to form joint ventures, and 26 products were identified as having export potential, said Rahman.
Five countries are keen to make direct investment in a number of sectors such as infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, agro and food processing, and information technology.
Power, energy, renewable energy, dairy products, fast-moving consumer goods, ready-made garment, leather, automobile, and jute are among the sectors that can draw foreign investment, according to Rahman.
“Bangladesh has huge opportunities to invest in the countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East as well as draw investment from the regions.”
Addressing the press conference, Tapan Kanti Ghosh, commerce secretary, said that the potential of commerce and investment in the post-Covid-19 was highlighted in the summit.
The government is working to ease doing businesses and has announced benefits such as the exemption of import duties and tax holiday to attract investors.
Land registration and mutation are being digitalised, the secretary said, adding that companies could already secure registration online.
“Bangladesh is now a suitable place for trade.”
Bangladesh will face major challenges in the field of commerce and investment once it graduates to a developing country from the grouping of the least-developed country in 2026, according to Ghosh.
“But Bangladesh is ready to compete.”
After graduation, Bangladesh may need to sign free trade or preferential trade agreements with trading partners such as the EU, the UK, Canada, Japan and Australia, he said.
Ghosh echoed other speakers who called for allowing the bonded warehouse facility to other export-oriented industries to replicate the success of the garment industry.
