A Japanese business delegation blamed Wednesday the lack of coordination among the government institutions concerned for failure of attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI).
The delegation members also suggested the government to monitor their services and performances, and to synchronise the functions and formalities.
"There are variety of institutions to promote trade and investment. Though each institution has its own mandate, the foreign investors frequently become puzzled by poor mutual coordination among the institutions concerned," said Hiroyuki Watabe, president of Japanese Commerce & Industry Association in Dhaka (JCIAD).
The remarks came at a luncheon meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, MP, at a city hotel.
The institutions are-Board of Investment (BoI), Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA), Bangladesh Economic Zone Area (BEZA) under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (CCI&E) and Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) under the Ministry of Communications, Mr Watabe said.
About FDI in RMG sector, he said difficulty in obtaining the membership of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has put a bar to invest them in the basic garment sector.
"As the BGMEA has been authorised by the government to issue Utilisation Declaration (UD) that is vital for garment manufacturers to engage in exports for their products or imports of raw materials from abroad, and to get generalised service preferences (GSP) benefits, membership of BGMEA is very much needed to invest in the sector," he said.
Mr Watabe alleged that foreign investors get confused over FDI policy for RMG sector as BGMEA is in a state which can be termed 'not so willing' to issue its membership to a cent per cent foreign- owned company or a joint venture.
The Commerce Minister assured the Japanese businesses of resolving the issues they raised for attraction of more FDI.
"As Bangladesh is becoming the destination of FDI, we are determined to remove all barriers to welcome foreign investment," he said.
Tofail Ahmed urged the Japanese investors to set up their business units in the six special economic zones (SEZs) supposed to be established soon.
Japanese delegation, however, said investment in the proposed SEZs will be difficult for them as those zones would be developed in the remote areas rather they requested the minister to provide them land near the capital city or Chittagong city.
The Commerce Minister assured them of conducting further search for suitable land beside the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
Former president of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abdul Haque urged the government to take experiences and expertise of BEPZA for BEZA as the latter is a new organisation.
President of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kei Kawano, chief representative of Bank of Tokyo Yasushi Takeuchi, general manager of ITOCHU Corporation, Dhaka liaison office Takeshi Okamoto, managing director (MD) of Ajinomoto Bangladesh Ltd Takeshi Himeoka, ABM Shamsul Alam from Juki Bangladesh Ltd, MD of Leatherex Footwear Industries Limited Mohammed Nazmul Hassan, Chairman of Uttara Motors Ltd Matiur Rahman, and MD of K Line Bangladesh Ltd Asif A Chowdhury were present at the meeting, among others.
