RSS Feed (xml)
Hasina invited foreign investors to make investment in Bangladesh in
potential sectors like banking, energy, infrastructure, agriculture,
agro-based industries and so. She made the call at a business meet
dubbed ' Investment Summit Bangladesh 2009 ' at Hotel Grand Hyatt in
this US city on Sunday afternoon as part of the PM's busy schedules on
the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session she addressed on
September 26. Businessmen from the Pan Asian-American Chamber of
Commerce were present at the meeting where they exchanged views with
the Prime Minister about the investment-friendly environment
prevailing now in Bangladesh. Prime Minister's son, Sajib Wajed Joy,
was also present at the summit meet on investment where rewarding
business offers from the head of government were aplenty. "In today's
globalised world, the farsighted and wise are taking immediate
advantage of opportunities for expanding their businesses. Surely,
such opportunities exist today for investors in Bangladesh," she told
the gathering. Indeed, she said, immense opportunities do exist for
new investments in capital market, banking, energy, infrastructure,
agriculture, agro-based industries, textiles, outsourcing, manpower,
pharmaceuticals, healthcare, biotechnology, light engineering,
shipbuilding, tourism, information technology, education, among
others. Sheikh Hasina mentioned that her government wants to turn
Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021 for which foreign
investment is a significant component. To attract the foreign
investors, fortunately, several conditions already exist in
Bangladesh's favour-a homogenous secular society, progressive
democracy, market-oriented economy, low-cost labour, entrepreneurial
ethos of the workforce, strategic geographic location accessible to
international land and air routes and a large domestic consumer
market of 160 million, the Prime Minister told her business
audience. "Complementing these favorable factors is our government's
incentives of zero duty for export-oriented industry, liberal tax
holidays, easy repatriation of profit, and even capital, in the
event of closures." The Prime Minister noted that such factors
prompted Goldman Sachs to include Bangladesh in its Next 11-- after
Brazil, Russian Federation, India and China--as one holding huge
potential. The government has initiated efforts for making the Board
of Investment effective and efficient.
