Secy-led 9-man committee to facilitate Japanese investment

Abul Kashem | Published: July 04, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government has formed a high-powered committee to look into some issues relating to infrastructure and creation of other facilities for attracting more Japanese investment in the country.Â Â
Headed by Abul Kalam Azad, Senior Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the 9-member committee will also devise ways to make investment approval procedures easy, enhance bilateral economic relations and exchange of investment-related information between Bangladesh and Japan, official sources said.
The move came following an agreement signed in Tokyo to initiate the 'Joint Bangladesh-Japan Public- Private Economic Dialogue (JBPPED).
During her visit to Japan in May this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged Japanese businessmen to invest in Bangladesh. She also assured that her government would remove obstacles to promote their investment in the country.
As agreed in the Joint statement signed by Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Japan on May 26, 2014, seeking to enhance bilateral trade and economic relations and facilitate Japanese investment in Bangladesh, the two governments decided to initiate the JBPPED. Â
The committee will work to meet all the requirements of the Japanese entrepreneurs to facilitate their investment in Bangladesh, officials said. The committee will meet and discuss with their Japanese counterparts from time to time and create a better environment for Japanese investors.
Other members of the committee are the Senior Secretaries of the Commerce Ministry, the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, the Finance Division, Secretaries of the Ministries of Industries, Foreign Affairs, Road Division, Power Division and the President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI).
FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin told the FE Bangladesh has a lot of opportunities to attract foreign direct investment as the country has cheap labour.
"If we can meet all the requirements of foreign investors, Bangladesh will be a haven of foreign direct investment (FDI)."
"The committee will try to facilitate investment- friendly environment in the country and work for reducing the cost of doing business," he said.
Earlier in April this year, the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) submitted a detailed report on investment environment for foreigners in Bangladesh. It was prepared by Japanese research organisations KRI International Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, and Mori Hamada and Matsumoto.
"Foreign investors have been pointing out that the government's priority to promote FDI may be relatively lower and that FDI policy in a longer term is not clear to them. Such unclarity and ambiguity of the government may have been revealed in business-related legal and regularity environment," the report said.
The report went on: "It is strongly desired that Bangladeshi government will continue to make efforts to develop investor-friendly business environment in terms of reducing business cost and increasing predictability so to achieve win-win situation for both Bangladesh's economy and foreign investors' business activation".
In the report, they pointed out 13 obstacles to FDI in Bangladesh. These include unclear conditions for foreign investment in industry and service sectors, virtual restrictions on foreign capital for garment manufacturing and laws and regulations written in local language which foreigners can't understand.
The report also mentioned about the need for strengthening the one-stop service of the Board of Investment (BOI), removal of difficulties in identifying the chain of title and ownership of land, and reconsidering the policy about restrictions on borrowing foreign currency for securing necessary working capital.