Bangladesh going to be regional investment hub

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday called for more Japanese investment in larger volumes as Bang-ladesh is going to be a regional hub for investment, industrialisation and export due to her government’s pragmatic policies.

“With our pragmatic policies and vision, Bangladesh is guaranteed to emerge as a regional hub for invest-ment, industrialisation and exports to diverse destinations in the region and beyond,” she said while open-ing Bangladesh Investment Summit at The Westin in Tokyo.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and Bangladesh Investment Development Authori-ty (BIDA) jointly organised the event titled “Trade and Investment Opportunities between Bangladesh and Japan.

While interacting with selected Japanese business leaders at another event at the same hotel, Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina called for taking the business and investment relationship between Bangladesh and Japan to the next higher level valuing 50 years of bilateral relations between the countries.

“I am confident that our last fifty years of enviable cooperation with Japan will remain an inspiration for the coming fifty years and beyond. Let us take our business and investment relations to the next higher level,” she said.

“Seeing the exemplary outcome of our two countries’ bilateral relations in the last five decades, our ex-pectation is for a larger footprint of Japan in Bangladesh in the coming years,” she said.

The prime minister said she greatly values the opinion of businessmen from Japan and has noted their sug-gestions.

“Our Embassy here in Tokyo is ready to cooperate and facilitate your ventures in Bangladesh. Please come to Bangladesh to explore the potential of business and investment opportunities waiting for you,” she said mentioning the resolution of a number of regulatory and policy issues raised by Japanese companies in Bangladesh.

“We shall keep on improving the business environment and ensure a level playing field for you all to do business in Bangladesh,” she said.

She mentioned that they have one of the most liberal foreign investment regimes in South Asia.

Even under the duress of the Covid-19 pandemic, she said the bilateral trade with Japan continued to grow significantly and crossed the USD 4 billion milestone for the first time during Fiscal Year 2021-22.

“The number of Japanese companies operating in Bangladesh has gone up steadily in the last few years, especially since 2014 when we entered into our ‘comprehensive partnership, and Japan’s commitment un-der the Big-B initiative,” she told the Japanese business leaders.

At the meeting, Japanese top business leaders have come up with future plans regarding investment in Bangladesh.

Later at the business summit, the prime minister mentioned that returns on investment in Bangladesh have been consistently high, she said Bangladesh’s business-friendly fiscal and non-fiscal policies and incentives, stable democracy, prudent governance and leadership guarantee foreign investment will return good val-ue.

“We can confidently assure you that Bangladesh ensures a solid future for global investors. We thus wel-come all investors from across the world, Japanese investors in particular, to see the opportunities for in-vestment in Bangladesh,” she said.

“However, real investment is still low. We seek more investment from Japan. … I invite you all to come to Bangladesh and explore the potential of business and investment opportunities,” she said.

The prime minister said that Bangladeshis a country of 170 million people which is itself a growing market while its location in the heart of a bigger market of nearly three billion consumers, provides a huge attrac-tion for business expansion.

She said that the HSBC Global Research Projection report indicates that Bangladesh is expected to become the 9th largest consumer market globally by 2030 overtaking the UK and Germany.

She reminded the local and Japanese investors that they are aware that Covid-19 pandemic has caused havoc worldwide and severely impacted trade and investment.

“However, we could tackle the crisis through effective measures and interventions. Our economy has shown strong resilience, maintained growth and is still sustaining the pressure from the volatile world fi-nancial situation and supply-side constraints. Bangladesh has maintained its economic growth and achieved 7.1% GDP growth rate in the Fiscal year 2021-2022. Despite the Ukraine War, we are projecting 6.5% growth rate during the current fiscal year,” she said.

Referring to Bangladesh’s ever-expanding economy, Sheikh Hasina said that opportunities have increased considerably in different sectors such as ICT, electronics, infrastructure, leather, textile, hospitality and tourism, heavy industry, chemical and fertiliser, and SMEs.

“Our government is doing everything it can to facilitate smooth, easy and efficient ways of doing busi-ness,” she said.

The prime minister said they are building 100 Economic Zones, Hi-tech and Software Parks to offer them for foreign investment.

“I want to assure Japanese investors that Bangladesh is ready for you and that you will have a great expe-rience once there. All required agencies and frameworks to facilitate your business have been set up for convenience,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said they have a high-level joint platform like Public Private Joint Economic Dialogue (PPED), especially for facilitating Japanese investors in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh welcomes the outcome of the 5th PPED meeting held recently on April 11, 2023, she said.

“Since Bangladesh is going to graduate from LDC status by 2026, we are working with Japan to make pos-sible an Economic Partnership Agreement to expand bilateral trade and investment,” she said.

The prime minister expressed happiness over seeing collaboration between Bangladeshi and Japanese companies.

“I wish successful partnership to those companies that have made a commitment today for investment in Bangladesh. We expect more investments from Japanese investors especially in the Japanese Economic Zone in Araihazar,” she continued.

Noting that the number of Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) and people of Bangladeshi origin living in Ja-pan are gradually increasing, she said they provide significant support to Bangladesh’s economic activities through their remittances.

“I also urge them to develop more entrepreneurship, engage in business initiatives and joint ventures with their Japanese friends,” she said.

The prime minister said Bangladesh is moving forward to a prosperous future.

“We want you all to be partners in our development and achievements. Do invest in Bangladesh. We are confident that your investment will bring you huge success”, she said.

“We seek more investment from Japan,” Sheikh Hasina said.

Sheikh Hasina said during her successive terms in the government they have been uplifting the socio-economic condition of my people as per the Awami League government’s Vision 2021 and Vision 2041.

“Bangladesh, as a country, is now cited as a “Role model for development” and sets examples in many fields ranging from poverty reduction, empowerment of women, digitalization, food production, and in addressing climate change challenges,” she said.

The premier continued that Bangladesh’s resilient people are now looking ahead with hope and optimism to emerge from the LDC category to a developing country by 2026.

Eleven memorandums of understanding between private companies from Bangladesh and Japan that in-clude JCCI and FBCCI were exchanged in the presence of the Bangladesh prime minister.

Chairman (senior Secretary) of BSEC Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam made a presentation.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, PM’s Private Industry and Investment Affairs Adviser Salman Fazlur Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Minister Md Shahriar Alam, State Minister Information Communication and Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak and BIDA Executive Chairman (Senior Secretary) Lokman Hossain Mi-ah, among others, were present.

Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Nishimura Yasutoshi, Chairman of Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Ishiguro Norihiko, Chairman, Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Ken Kobayashi alongside CEOs and top business leaders from Japan and Bangladesh were present.