FICCI lists factors discouraging FDI
FE Report | Friday, 25 February 2011
FE Report
Uninterrupted availability of utility services, reduction of cost for doing business and improvement of law and order situation are important for attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country, said the leaders of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Thursday in the capital. They also called upon the government to project properly the country's historical heritage including those of the longest sea beach at Cox's Bazar and the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans and develop further the capacity of aviation services for attracting more FDI to the country. Their observations came at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Chamber at a local hotel. Executive director of FICCI MA Matin presided over the meeting. Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Ghulam Muhammed Quader was present on the occasion as the chief guest. FICCI president AM Hamim Rahmatullah, president and its vice-president Laurent Therond were also present at the meeting. About the improvement of facilities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the civil aviation minister said, "We are working on it. And within the next six months, we will be able to install new scanning machines and other equipment there to ensure providing quicker services". "The government is planning to expand the fleet of the national carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines. We have a plan to bring more aircraft. To restore Dhaka-New York flight, two aircraft will be added to the current fleet of the national carrier by the end of the year," Quader said. "The world is becoming smaller. We don't sit idle. We need to build a bigger airport like those of Singapore and Bangkok for facilitating the operation of big businesses as the airport could appear as important transit routes, considering the country's best locational advantage in the region that could also draw more tourists to the country," he added. He said that in the last year, about US $ 1.0 trillion business was done in the worldwide tourism sector. And out of that amount, the SAARC countries shared only one per cent, and India alone grabbed half of that percentage. "Bangladesh is a cost-effective tourist destination. Tourists prefer to find some new attractive sites, apart from the existing ones. There are some elements in the bureaucracy who neither work nor let others do so," he lamented.
Uninterrupted availability of utility services, reduction of cost for doing business and improvement of law and order situation are important for attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country, said the leaders of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Thursday in the capital. They also called upon the government to project properly the country's historical heritage including those of the longest sea beach at Cox's Bazar and the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans and develop further the capacity of aviation services for attracting more FDI to the country. Their observations came at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Chamber at a local hotel. Executive director of FICCI MA Matin presided over the meeting. Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Ghulam Muhammed Quader was present on the occasion as the chief guest. FICCI president AM Hamim Rahmatullah, president and its vice-president Laurent Therond were also present at the meeting. About the improvement of facilities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the civil aviation minister said, "We are working on it. And within the next six months, we will be able to install new scanning machines and other equipment there to ensure providing quicker services". "The government is planning to expand the fleet of the national carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines. We have a plan to bring more aircraft. To restore Dhaka-New York flight, two aircraft will be added to the current fleet of the national carrier by the end of the year," Quader said. "The world is becoming smaller. We don't sit idle. We need to build a bigger airport like those of Singapore and Bangkok for facilitating the operation of big businesses as the airport could appear as important transit routes, considering the country's best locational advantage in the region that could also draw more tourists to the country," he added. He said that in the last year, about US $ 1.0 trillion business was done in the worldwide tourism sector. And out of that amount, the SAARC countries shared only one per cent, and India alone grabbed half of that percentage. "Bangladesh is a cost-effective tourist destination. Tourists prefer to find some new attractive sites, apart from the existing ones. There are some elements in the bureaucracy who neither work nor let others do so," he lamented.