Noted economist and former central bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman suggests strengthening Bangladesh's connectivity with other South Asian countries, aimed at boosting regional trade and network.
Citing huge investment potential in the country's connectivity infrastructure, he urges both domestic and foreign investors to engage in this regard.
The observations came at a workshop styled 'Mobilising Private Sector to Strengthen Regional Connectivity Infrastructure' hosted at Biswa Sahitya Kendra in the capital on Thursday.
The participatory workshop was organised by the Dr Atiur-spearheaded think tank Unnayan Shamannay.
National trade expert on commerce ministry's regional connectivity project Md Munir Chowdhury and Bangladesh Land Port Authority's assistant director Md Anisur Rahman addressed the event as panellists.
Panama Sonamasjid Port Link Ltd general manager Md Belal Hossain and Summit Alliance Port Ltd chief operating officer Md Abdul Hakim also spoke.
Public and private-sector stakeholders involved in regional connectivity infrastructure management, researchers, students and mass-media representatives participated in the workshop.
"Not only transportation infrastructure, but also the capacity of our ports and business hubs must be improved significantly to make the connectivity stronger with neighbouring countries," Dr Atiur says.
Pacing up regional trade is of critical importance amid the prevailing global situation, he adds. But to do so, Dr Atiur asserts, management of the connectivity infrastructure must have the desired quality and speed.
He also lays emphasis on increased private-sector engagement in managing the connectivity hubs in all areas as it has so far involved on a limited scale.
Participants also prefer removing bottlenecks like investment risk, bureaucratic tangle, lack of state initiative to facilitate the private sector and frequent policy shifts to attract it in the connectivity infrastructure.
The panel discussants put stress on implementing public-private-partnership models for quality/safety test of the goods coming/going through ports, overall port management and construction of ports.
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