‘Chattogram to become business hub of South Asia’

Chattogram is expected to turn into one of the potential business hubs in South Asia as various mega projects are underway to utilise the best potentiality of the port city.

The national and international business leaders came up with the expectations at a view-exchange meeting held between Korean Trade Association and Chittagong Chamber Of Commerce & Industry (CCCI).

The meeting was held at World Trade Centre where Director General of Korea Trade Association and Commercial Counselor of Korea Embassy Sam Soo Kim met the leaders of CCCI. Chamber president Mahbubul Alam and senior vice-president Tarafder Md. Ruhul Amin were present at the meeting, among others.

The business leaders said that Chittagong port is the main seaport of Bangladesh handling about 92 per cent of import-export trade of the country while Chittagong contributes nearly 12 per cent to the GDP of Bangladesh. The major heavy industrial factories of the country are located in the city. They sought investment in the ship-breaking, ship-building, electronics and manufacturing sectors along with technical support.

Mahbubul Alam said, “Various mega projects are being implemented to make Chattogram one of the commercial hubs of South Asia. Although there are about 200 Korean companies in Bangladesh, this number is very insignificant compared to Vietnam.”

Mentioning the trade gap between Bangladesh and Korea, he said that Bangladesh exports $400 million worth of goods to Korea and imports goods worth of more than $1 billion from Korea.

“In addition, Korea imports about $5 billion worth of processed meat and fish each year. Of this, $2 billion is shrimp and processed fish.”

Referring to the potential of shrimp from Bangladesh, he sought investment in the export of shrimp and processed fish from Bangladesh through Korean technical cooperation.

Sam Soo Kim said, “The manufacturing sector plays a significant role in the export sector in Bangladesh. In the 80s, the Korean company provided the first technical assistance in the manufacturing sector in Bangladesh.”

“In 1990, Korea moved away from traditional waste management and introduced modern waste management in order to generate electricity from waste. By introducing different bins for different wastes, it has achieved success in generating electricity from waste.”