The European Union (EU) wishes to see the relevant rules and regulations to be transparent in some specific fields to facilitate fresh investment in Bangladesh, officials said ahead of a bilateral business meet.
EU officials will sit with trade officials in Dhaka Thursday under the banner of European Union Business Council Bangladesh (EUBCB), formed in February last year, to discuss entire gamut of issues related to trade and business.
EU Ambassador in Dhaka Pierre Mayaudon would lead his delegation while commerce secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon would head the host side. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed is scheduled to inaugurate the programme.
Envoys from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands in Dhaka would also attend the business dialogue.
According to officials, issues like import duty, customs, trade facilitation, licence and investment in service sector, repatriation of capital, tax regime, and Bangladesh's pharmaceutical sector will be on top of the agenda.
The two sides will discuss transparency, reliability, and predictability regarding information on duties, customs procedures, tariffs and para-tariffs, allowing import financing by export credit agencies from the EU without opening letter of credits from a bank in Bangladesh.
Licence issuance and renewal in the services sector, freight forwarding/logistics and shipping, writ petition in the High Court against foreign investment in services sector, complexities and ambiguities in tax regulations and their implementation, and levels of corporate tax are also being placed on the table.
Issues like transparency and predictability of regulatory requirements, taxes upon repatriation of funds and overseas payment for the import of services, import restrictions on pharmaceutical products and WTO compliance, marketing authorization of EU medicinal products, and harmonization of provisions in drug legislations will also come up for discussion.
Additional secretary of the ministry of commerce (MoC) Monoj Kumar Roy told the FE the European Union wants to make Bangladesh an export destination alongside making significant investment.
But, they want investment-friendly environment to be created by way of removing business hurdles, he said.
"EU is our main business partner. They want our rules and regulations to be transparent to help make investment," the trade official added.
The Bangladesh side will raise issues like export barriers, and seek their assistance in service sector as well as blue economy.
"We will request them to make investment in special economic zones," said Mr Roy.
The investment value of EU in Bangladesh has reached nearly 2.0 billion euros, with its private sector having contributed 21.5 per cent.
The bilateral trade stood at nearly 17.60 billion euros in fiscal year 2014-15. Bangladesh exported goods worth 15.14 billion euros while its imports from the EU amounted to 2.45 billion euros.
Nearly 60 per cent of the exports of Bangladesh's readymade garment (RMG) go to the EU market.
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