Brand Bangladesh, privatise foreign service, BoI to pull in FDI: Experts

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FE Report
Bangladesh needs to re-brand itself to burnish its image abroad and attract increased volume of foreign capital, corporate captains and financial experts said Saturday, calling for improvement in the services delivered by country's diplomatic missions abroad.
They said the low-cost labour base, a large domestic market and demographic dividend will enable the country to become the "next Asian tiger"-even if it has some distance to go to have a niche in Asia .
Lutfey Siddiqi, a managing director at Barclays Capital in Singapore, said Bangladesh should privatise its moth-eaten civil service, including the foreign service, to promote the country's image and draw on increased foreign investments.
"In my fantasy world of a privatised foreign service, every ambassador will be an economic Brand Ambassador," the Bangladeshi-born investment banker said.
He was a panelist at a roundtable on "Does Bangladesh have a niche in Asia?" in the city, organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
Mr Siddiqi added: "In fact, they don't have to be Bangladeshis-I'd be happy with Angelina Jolie or Amitabh Bachchan representing us. Whatever works."
Siddiqi, a product of London School of Economics, favoured 'state-directed capitalism" in the early stage of development of a country, but stressed on public-private partnership for all external functions of the government.
Referring to the examples of Foreign Service and Board of Investment, Mr Siddiqi said: "Open it up for international tender, give them a budget and measurable objectives."
Sensing the potential repercussion about the privatisation, he hastened to add that no one complained when the country employed foreign coaches for the cricket team. "Why can't we do that in other areas?"
The Barclays executive, who is in the city to attend the DCCI-sponsored conference in conjunction with its Golden Jubilee, called upon the government to declare 2012 as the "Invest in Bangladesh Year" and prepare to make it a success.
"This will give us a concentrated sense of purpose. We'll drum up excitement and reforms around this banner, treat it like a national obsession," he added.
The young banker gave a long list of the country's key strengths, notably location, transit and port facilities, unique brand of secular Islam, a centre of excellence for Islamic finance, microcredit and tolerance for diversity, to attract the attention of global investors' community.
In his keynote address, Ifty Islam, managing partner at Asian Tiger Capital, said Bangladesh can chalk up 8.0 per cent growth a year if the country can navigate bottlenecks in power, energy and access to finance.
"The message is clear-we can grow by 8%. The country can emerge as an Asian tiger. Frontier markets like Bangladesh will continue to be attractive," Islam, a former Citigroup executive, told the elite audience.
He said Bangladeshi corporations are increasingly globalising and next-generation entrepreneurs will be one of the best in the world.
"We project ourselves as a poor country for securing aid, not for trade," Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan, chief executive of BOC, said.
"Bangladesh is a poorly-managed country, not a poor country," he added.
He identified gas and power crises as the crucial factors for boosting growth and said the government must have "doable" lists.
Anders Jensen, Grameenphone's chief executive officer, said Bangladesh has 'huge' potential, but doesn't have niche-not even in sectors like telecommunications he is involved.
To buttress his argument, Mr Jensen said 30 per cent penetration and continued growth give the country's largest cell phone firm a 'foundation, but not niche."
He said Bangladesh 's target should be to graduate its impoverished people to the middle-class which is the real driver of growth.
His pessimism, however, was mixed with certain optimism when the Swedish-born executive said this country can capitalise on geography and demography--particularly its low-cost, but increasingly skilled work force. "They (workforce) shouldn't travel abroad, rather they should stay at home."
Speaking as one of panelists at the roundtable, Grameenphone top boss voiced his concern over the country's capital market, saying it's a "major concern."
Without elaborating, Mr Jensen, whose company plans to float initial public offerings in early next year, said corporations operating in the country need what he called a "solid roadmap" for the capital market, still lacks depth. "Liquidity needs to be created and venture capital is also needed."