Serbia keen to invest in Bangladeshi food storage industry

Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovic has expressed keen interest in investing in the food storage industry of Bangladesh.

The Minister expressed his interest at a meeting with Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, the senior vice-president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), at a city hotel on Thursday.

Serbian food storage companies are one of the best in the world. Many have expanded their business to different countries in Africa, and Bangladesh can also benefit from Serbia’s investment in this sector, said the Serbian visiting minister.

Mentioning that Serbia has free trade area agreements with Europe, the Eurasian Economic Union and Turkey, the minister said Bangladesh can benefit by establishing joint ventures and exporting at zero duty to those free-trade countries.

Nikola Selakovic also expressed his interest in signing two agreements with the government of Bangladesh to increase bilateral trade. These are double taxation, investment protection and promotion.

Serbia is keen to take skilled and semi-skilled manpower from Bangladesh for their construction and agriculture sectors as well, the minister informed.

At the same time, the minister urged Bangladeshi students to go to Serbia to study agricultural engineering as the country provides the world’s best facilities of its kind.

During the meeting, FBCCI Senior Vice-President Mostofa Azad said that 30 per cent of agricultural products are wasted in Bangladesh every year due to lack of adequate packaging, transportation and storage facilities.

“We only have cold storage facilities for potatoes in the country. There are no such facilities for the other crops. Hence, Serbia’s investment in building storage facilities will open up the door for technology transfer,” he said in the press release.

The two sides also agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the FBCCI soon.