Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu on Monday called upon foreign investors to invest in Bangladesh, considering the country's 'unique' industrial and investment policy.
"I firmly believe, as a suitable place for investment, entrepreneurs and investors from different countries would come forward to investing more and more in Bangladesh taking the advantages of our unique industrial and investment policy," he said while speaking at the luncheon meeting, hosted by the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
He also urged the FICCI members to extend their all-out support and cooperation to help bring in foreign investments in Bangladesh to establish a sustainable and green economy in the future.
The minister said FICCI has played a pioneering role in expanding the country's trade and business and introducing new machinery and technology in different sectors.
He said as a result of FICCI's efforts, Bangladesh has now become the second favoured destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Asia. Inflows of FDI into Bangladesh rose to a record high of US$1.6 billion last year, which is expected to cross $2 billion this year.
The government is pursuing a liberal investment and industrial policy for foreign investors with attractive incentive package. More FDI in the booming industrial sectors, like - shipbuilding and ship recycling, infrastructure, communication, ICT, agriculture, textile, power, health and education, will be welcomed, he added.
FICCI President Rupali Chowdhury said the investment and trade-related policies of Bangladesh are liberal and attractive for FDI. The macro-economic fundamentals are sound, and incentive package for investment is also attractive. These are conducive to investment in general and FDI in particular.
"The World Investment Report, released by UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), showed Bangladesh as the second favoured investment destination in South Asia after India. But if we compare with Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, we are far behind in terms of net FDI flow."
She said the inflows of FDI into Bangladesh rose 24 per cent to $1.6 billion in 2014.
"FDI in 2014 was not, however, diversified," she opined.
She also said administrative barriers are quite longwinded and inter-related. Poor policy design and implementation, competitive weakness, structural impediments, low quality of infrastructure and skills, weak institutions, poor governance and administrative hassles represent the administrative barriers that discourage potential FDI.
"If we need to prioritise in terms of short-term improvement area, infrastructural development should be given the highest priority along with improvement in long, complicated bureaucratic process."
Rupali Chowdhury said administrative barriers are also translated into different forms and vary from sector to sector.
"We are facing hurdles in the maters of policy, legislation and functions of different regulatory bodies. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Board of Investment must work together, and BOI should provide one-stop solution."
Ms Chowdhury said the country's export is heavily dependent on ready-made garments. Such dependence on a single sector is very risky. Expansion of export base is a must in order to boost export earning.
She urged the government to formulate a comprehensive trade policy in conjunction with industrial policy, and encompass both export and import trade without any delay to achieve the 'desired' rate of economic growth.
The FICCI president requested the minister to review the recent gazette notification, issued from the Ministry of Industries, barring MDs and CEOs of multinational companies (MNCs) from getting CIP status.
She said the status is given on certain criteria, such as contribution to the public exchequer in the forms of VAT and TAX.
The previous law included chairmen, managing directors/ chief executive officers of both local and multinational companies. But the changed law excludes chairmen, managing directors or chief executive officers of MNCs.
"The law should be inclusive of all investors, and should not discriminate on the basis of origin of investment. We are afraid that this decision will be seen as a discriminating policy, and will provide a wrong message to potential investors," she opined.
bdsmile@gmail.com
