Four major investment promotion agencies have launched a joint 180-day action plan to improve the country's investment climate.
Executive Chairman of all the four agencies Ashik Chowdhury presented the outline of the plan to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman during a meeting on Sunday evening, according to a statement.
The agencies are Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), Maheshkhali Integrated Development Authority (MIDA), and Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA).
"Our plan is centred on building an investment-led economy, accelerating employment creation, and increasing the level of domestic and foreign investment in Bangladesh through focused, implementation-driven reforms," Chowdhury was quoted as saying in the statement.
"Amid global uncertainty, our priority at this stage is to support and accelerate investment by local investors. We will, of course, continue to support foreign investors, but our immediate growth strategy is centred on helping local investors do more and enabling those already operating in Bangladesh to expand," he added.
The 180-day roadmap is structured around 25 initiatives under three pillars.
Thirteen of the initiatives are under robust infrastructure to improve logistics and investment enablers, and seven under investment facilitation to improve investor support and service quality.
Besides, five initiatives are under investment development to drive targeted investment and support sector-focused growth.
Under robust infrastructure, priorities include advancing port modernisation, implementation of Chinese Economic Zone, expanding ready-to-use industrial park plots, progressing Free Trade Zone and Defence Economic Zone, revitalising state-owned enterprises through PPP, foreign investments and economic zone conversion, and advancing energy initiatives and exploring alternative options.
Under investment facilitation, the focus is on institutional reform and investor servicing, including unification of BIDA, BEZA, BEPZA, BHTPA and PPPA, progress on the Bangladesh-South Korea FTA, launching a private sector advisory council to be headed by the prime minister, stronger inter-ministerial coordination, rollout of BanglaBiz as a single-window platform, targeted resolution of issues faced by major investors, and launching BIDA's first overseas office in China.
Under investment development, the plan prioritises country-wide industry mapping, FDI pipeline building in targeted sectors (agribusiness, pharma, leather, textile, and IT) from priority countries, blue economy initiatives, including deep-sea fishing, mariculture, and export-oriented shrimp processing, and introducing FDI incentive scheme.
Together, these initiatives reflecting the ruling party's manifesto are coordinated efforts to improve infrastructure, strengthen facilitation, and build a stronger pipeline of future investment opportunities for Bangladesh.
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