A worker washes a processed raw hide at a tannery in Savar – Rajib Dhar

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has described the upcoming “Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit” as a very timely initiative to promote the readiness of Bangladesh to attract foreign investors.

Stating that the environment for doing business in Bangladesh is now more congenial than ever, he has said such branding summits will attract more foreign investments.

“Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh is poised to maintain positive economic growth,” he told a meeting with Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Rizwan Rahman at his ministry on Sunday.

The commerce ministry and the DCCI will jointly organise the week-long virtual summit to be held from October 26 to November 1.

Momen appreciated the endeavours of the commerce ministry and the DCCI.

He assured the DCCI president of his fullest cooperation, adding not only foreign investors but also the Bangladeshi diaspora living abroad have a keen interest in investing in their motherland.

The DCCI president said despite the Covid-19 fallouts, Bangladesh had registered a remarkable 5.47 per cent GDP growth in the fiscal year 2020-21.

“Global investors’ confidence in Bangladesh has increased as some bold and strategic reforms are consistently being implemented considering the changing geo-economic dynamics and the private sector needs,” he added.

He sought the foreign ministry’s cooperation to disseminate the summit information to businesses around the globe through the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh.

“To celebrate the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of the country’s independence, we will jointly organise this international summit,” he said.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given her kind consent to inaugurate the summit as the chief guest,” he added.

The objective of the summit is to promote Bangladesh as an attractive trading and foreign direct investment (FDI) destination to global businesses in order to extend the global integration of trade and investment into the new global reality and to secure investment in diverse priorities and emerging industries for mutual benefits.

The summit will discuss nine sectors, underscoring critical enablers and avenues of the economy and demanding massive investments, especially in infrastructure, information technology or information technology enabled services, financial technology, leather goods, pharmaceuticals, automotive and light engineering, plastic products, agro and food processing, jute and textiles, fast-moving consumer goods, and retail.

Hundreds of entrepreneurs from more than 50 countries of five regions - the Americas, Europe, Middle East and West Asia, Asia and Pacific, and Africa - are expected to join daylong business-to-business (B2B) matchmaking sessions on all seven days of the summit.

Moreover, there will be a series of sector-specific webinars where dignitaries, ministers, high government officials, researchers, think tanks, economists, policymakers, and academicians both from home and abroad will join.

More than 160 B2B sessions are expected to be held where over 320 entrepreneurs will participate.