AmCham celebrates 25 years in Bangladesh

The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) celebrated its 25th anniversary at Hotel InterContinental Dhaka on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen attended the programme as chief guest while Prime Minister’s Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman was special guest and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R Miller was present as guest of honour.

AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed, members of the chamber including the executive committee members, former presidents, founders, foreign dignitaries, business leaders, media representatives and other distinguished guests attended, said a statement.

It said since 1988 AmCham started to operate as American Bangladesh Economic Forum (ABEF) and in the year 1996 formally established as The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) with an objective to promote the economic relationships between Bangladesh and the United States of America. The membership of the organisation included US companies doing business in Bangladesh, their counterparts whose primary business is to represent products and services of United States origin.

The chamber has introduced a number of practices in Bangladesh. The country was not familiar with. However, proven to beneficial elsewhere in the world and provided a dynamic platform where many visionary ideas focusing on exchange of information between the US and Bangladesh with a view to stimulating greater understanding about each other’s potentials and opportunities. AmCham Bangladesh holds the full membership of the AmChams of Asia Pacific (AAP) and has also been accredited as a member of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Marking the occasion, AmCham unveiled a research report titled “USA-Bangladesh Trade & Investment: Next Generation Priorities”. The study was carried out by Policy Exchange Bangladesh on behalf of AmCham. The chamber has embarked upon a pursuit to perform a comprehensive identification and systematic diagnostics to identify opportunities to further strengthen trade and investment ties between Bangladesh and the US and have follow-on policy and market advocacy to pursue the strategic priorities for a conducive business environment in the days ahead.