Commerce Minister calls on Turkish investors to enter Bangladesh
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan, who took part in the Trade Ministers Summit here, has called upon the Turkish businessmen to evaluate "lucrative investment opportunities" in Bangladesh, according to UNB news from Istanbul.
He told the leading English daily 'Today's Zaman' that Bangladesh is full of investment opportunities, mostly untapped, waiting to be utilised by profit-seeking entrepreneurs.
Faruk Khan particularly emphasised the incentives the Bangladesh government is offering to interested investors. Citing an example, he said, the government has decided to dedicate a special economic zone to Turkish businessmen with incentives such as land delivery and cheap labour and energy.
The Commerce Minister said, Bangladesh has the cheapest labour in the world and that only a few other countries can match it in terms of energy costs in this industrial zone. He said, a company might hire an unskilled worker for a monthly salary of US$ 100-150 depending on the location.
He said, there is one more very lucrative advantage that an investor must consider: there are no legal barriers to foreign companies transferring profits to their home countries.
Khan praised Turkish industrialists as being highly skilled in virtually every sector and asked for investment in all fields, particularly pharmaceuticals, textiles and construction. He said, any investment in the power generation sector would be welcome.
Trade volume between Bangladesh and Turkey is currently around US$ 500 million a year.
During the discussions Faruk Khan held here in last couple of days with the Turkish state officials including Turkish International Trade Minister, both sides agreed that the current trade volume has to increase to US$ 1.0 billion in a short period of time.
Bangladesh and Turkey are to sit for Joint Economic Commission meeting in Ankara November next when entire range of bilateral economic and trade matters will be reviewed and new ways of cooperation worked out.
Turkey is now the 15th largest economy in the world and sixth largest in Europe. Turkish State Minister for International Trade Zafer Caglayan told reporters covering the Turkey-World Trade Bridge 2009 that his country has focused on exploring new markets for trade and investment in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Middle East without turning back to Europe.
He was optimistic that Turkey will come out of the negative impact of global economic crisis that will hit its export and employment sectors by next year. He said, since the present recession is a global crisis, a global solution will have to be found to overcome it.
Asked how LDCs could get benefit from a three-day business summit that ended here Friday, Zafer said Turkey was once an LDC.
He told the leading English daily 'Today's Zaman' that Bangladesh is full of investment opportunities, mostly untapped, waiting to be utilised by profit-seeking entrepreneurs.
Faruk Khan particularly emphasised the incentives the Bangladesh government is offering to interested investors. Citing an example, he said, the government has decided to dedicate a special economic zone to Turkish businessmen with incentives such as land delivery and cheap labour and energy.
The Commerce Minister said, Bangladesh has the cheapest labour in the world and that only a few other countries can match it in terms of energy costs in this industrial zone. He said, a company might hire an unskilled worker for a monthly salary of US$ 100-150 depending on the location.
He said, there is one more very lucrative advantage that an investor must consider: there are no legal barriers to foreign companies transferring profits to their home countries.
Khan praised Turkish industrialists as being highly skilled in virtually every sector and asked for investment in all fields, particularly pharmaceuticals, textiles and construction. He said, any investment in the power generation sector would be welcome.
Trade volume between Bangladesh and Turkey is currently around US$ 500 million a year.
During the discussions Faruk Khan held here in last couple of days with the Turkish state officials including Turkish International Trade Minister, both sides agreed that the current trade volume has to increase to US$ 1.0 billion in a short period of time.
Bangladesh and Turkey are to sit for Joint Economic Commission meeting in Ankara November next when entire range of bilateral economic and trade matters will be reviewed and new ways of cooperation worked out.
Turkey is now the 15th largest economy in the world and sixth largest in Europe. Turkish State Minister for International Trade Zafer Caglayan told reporters covering the Turkey-World Trade Bridge 2009 that his country has focused on exploring new markets for trade and investment in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Middle East without turning back to Europe.
He was optimistic that Turkey will come out of the negative impact of global economic crisis that will hit its export and employment sectors by next year. He said, since the present recession is a global crisis, a global solution will have to be found to overcome it.
Asked how LDCs could get benefit from a three-day business summit that ended here Friday, Zafer said Turkey was once an LDC.