B'desh needs to enhance promotional activities to woo more investment
Thursday, 2 April 2009
FE Report
The country needs to strengthen its promotional activities to attract more investment and creation of employment for economic growth of the country.
It is critical for the Board of Investment (BoI) to be strong for performing its role as the investment promotion agency for job creation, said experts at a press conference on investment attraction in Bangladesh: Growing sense of urgency organised by International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the city on Wednesday.
Former BoI executive chairman Farooq Sobhan said that the government agency lacked quality staff to perform its due role.
"The current global crisis presents a very good opportunity to look at our current setup and strengthen it, so that we can emerge stronger at the onset of global economic recovery," he said.
Dhaka University professor Dr Atiur Rahman said that modernisation of BoI is required in this increasingly competitive global environment especially in the context of the current global economic crisis.
"In the light of the global crisis, many manufacturers are willing to move their operations to low-cost countries, and Bangladesh can benefit greatly if this opportunity can be exploited at this particular time," he said.
Senior IFC official Robert Whyte in his presentation pointed out that newly established 'Invest Bangladesh' wing in the BoI would significantly increase the country's capabilities to attract foreign direct investment.
He said Invest Bangladesh division staff should be employed from both the public and private sectors and the recruits should possess appropriate skill sets required to compete with other investment promotion agency (IPAs) in the region.
Syed Akhtar Mahmood, senior programme manager of IFC, said that the key area of reform should be to streamline and automate investor registration process through creation of an online registration system.
The country needs to strengthen its promotional activities to attract more investment and creation of employment for economic growth of the country.
It is critical for the Board of Investment (BoI) to be strong for performing its role as the investment promotion agency for job creation, said experts at a press conference on investment attraction in Bangladesh: Growing sense of urgency organised by International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the city on Wednesday.
Former BoI executive chairman Farooq Sobhan said that the government agency lacked quality staff to perform its due role.
"The current global crisis presents a very good opportunity to look at our current setup and strengthen it, so that we can emerge stronger at the onset of global economic recovery," he said.
Dhaka University professor Dr Atiur Rahman said that modernisation of BoI is required in this increasingly competitive global environment especially in the context of the current global economic crisis.
"In the light of the global crisis, many manufacturers are willing to move their operations to low-cost countries, and Bangladesh can benefit greatly if this opportunity can be exploited at this particular time," he said.
Senior IFC official Robert Whyte in his presentation pointed out that newly established 'Invest Bangladesh' wing in the BoI would significantly increase the country's capabilities to attract foreign direct investment.
He said Invest Bangladesh division staff should be employed from both the public and private sectors and the recruits should possess appropriate skill sets required to compete with other investment promotion agency (IPAs) in the region.
Syed Akhtar Mahmood, senior programme manager of IFC, said that the key area of reform should be to streamline and automate investor registration process through creation of an online registration system.