US-Bangladesh Business Council to be launched soon: Miller

Ambassador of USA to Bangladesh Earl R Miller on Sunday informed that US-Bangladesh Business Council will be launched soon to facilitate US investments in the country.

“The resiliency of Bangladesh is very remarkable. The bilateral relation between the USA and Bangladesh mainly depends on strong economic ties and the future of it is limitless. Soon US-Bangladesh Business Council will be launched and which reflects that the US investors are keen to invest in Bangladesh,” he said.

The US envoy said this while paying a courtesy visit to Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at the DCCI office in the capital, said a press release.

Economic Affairs Unit Chief of the US Embassy in Bangladesh John Dunham and Director of the Economic Growth Office, USAID John Smith-Sreen were also present during the meeting.

Earl R Miller congratulated the people of Bangladesh on the occasion of its golden jubilee and celebration of Bangabandhu’s birth centenary.

He said that the entrepreneurial energy of Bangladeshi people is really notable.

The Ambassador said agriculture, automobile, blue economy, tourism, eco-tourism and light engineering are some of the potential avenues for the US investors.

In 2019, he said the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and USA reached record $9 billion.

Earl R Miller also urged on improving ease of doing business index and development of infrastructure including port infrastructure.

During the meeting, DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said that the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and the United States recorded 37.6 percent growth over the last ten years.

“It reached to $7.96 billion in FY2020 of which Bangladesh’s export was $5.83 billion and import was $2.13 billion,” he added.

He also sought investment from the USA, particularly in the medical equipment and safety gears, automobile, smart farming technology, food processing and 4IR technologies.

He said Bangladeshi RMG exporters pay 15.62 percent duty on their shipments to the USA which is the highest compared to other exporting nations to US.

He urged the USA to include RMG, footwear and dairy products of Bangladesh under duty free quota free (DFQF) facility of USA.

He said the United States is the top source of Foreign Direct Investment into Bangladesh.

Members of the DCCI Board were also present during the meeting.

(BSS)