FE Report
Bangladesh and Philippines need to tap opportunities in the areas like trade, commerce, investment and tourism for their mutual benefits and meeting the increasing demands to expand businesses between the two countries in the wake of emerging global changes.
The two Asian countries can leverage on each other's strengths as the United Nations confirmed last month that Bangladesh has qualified to earn the status of a developing state from a least developed country (LDC). Besides, Bangladesh has also set a target to become an upper middle-income country in the next decade while Philippines needs to come out from middle income group.
The observations were made by noted economist Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), while presenting a keynote paper at a seminar on Saturday.
Bangladesh-Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BPCCI) organised the seminar, titled 'Bangladesh-Philippines bilateral relations: promoting and deepening trade and investment cooperation', at a hotel in the capital.
Prof Mustafizur Rahman suggested that there will be an increasing need to diversify businesses, find new partners and explore new opportunities as Bangladesh is moving forward in the twenty-first century.
Commerce Secretary Shubhashish Bose attended the seminar as the chief guest while Ambassador of the Philippines to Bangladesh Vicente Vivencio T Bandillo was present as the special guest.
BPCCI President Mohammed A Awwal and its Vice President Akber Hakim also attended the function, among others.
Noting that Bangladesh will need to explore new avenues of cooperation with new partners, Mustafizur Rahman said "A deepening of bilateral cooperation could help both the countries in their quest for development, in which Philippines wants to overcome its middle-income trap."
According to the keynote paper, Bangladesh's export to Philippines was US $ 45.1 million, and import from the South-east Asian country was $ 15.3 million in 2015. Bilateral trade till now has been insignificant in terms of both value and share, it added. However, speaking on the occasion, Shubhashish Bose said that bilateral trade between the two countries is still very low.
Mentioning various fiscal facilities existing in Bangladesh, the commerce secretary requested the Philippines ambassador to request prospective Filipino businessmen to explore the investment opportunities in Bangladesh.
"Bangladesh has the most flexible investment regime at present," Bose said, adding: "Most importantly Bangladesh is offering most lucrative incentive for foreign entrepreneurs."
Bangladesh gets duty free access to many countries including European Union (EU), Japan South Korea, Malaysia, China and India, he said.
Taking part in panel discussion, Naser Ezaz Bijoy, Country Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said Bangladesh can explore huge potential of Filipino market with its exportable items like readymade garment (RMG) and pharmaceuticals product, while Philippines can offer its copper and refined oil.
He also said cooperation between the two countries can help Bangladesh learn skills of information technology enabled services (ITES) and business process outsourcing (BPO) from the Philippines. The South-east Asian country earns a significant amount foreign currency through its skilled manpower in IT sector and exporting hospitality services abroad, he added.
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