Further improve ease of doing business to utilise country’s potential, investors urge

Local and foreign investors on Thursday termed Bangladesh a land of opportunity and urged the government to further improve on the ease-of-doing-business factors to utilise the country's full potential.

"A lot of opportunities are here [in Bangladesh]. An organised coordination is necessary to utilise that," Naser Ejaj Bijoy, president of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a programme at a hotel in the capital.

"We have to recognise that the ease of doing business factors have improved," he said and added that there is a scope for further improvement. 

"The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority is working to make 78 reforms in six areas. All stakeholders need to enhance cooperation to this end so that investors can get the message that the business climate is improving here," he said.

"Ease of doing business and investment climate are significant for investors," Country Representative of Japan External Trade Organisation Yuji Andi said at the event, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) organised to brief on the upcoming Bangladesh Business Summit.

Business leaders from different sectors, officials of multinational organisations, and envoys of the European Union, Japan, Canada, the Philippine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries were present at the event.

"The country has a lot of facilities and policy support for investors. There are also some problems which can be resolved, I believe," said Rupali Chowdhury, managing director of Berger Paints Bangladesh and former president of the foreign investors' Chamber.

"Our labour is much more competitive than any other country," said AK Azad, former president of the FBCCI and managing director of Ha-Meem Group.

Sharing his personal experience, the export-based businessman said once his buyer asked him to invest in a third country to reduce lead time. "We could manage land in Haiti and started the investment process but we had to stop as there was a scarcity of water. Even the judicial system of the country had no freedom." 

AK Azad said there is no better alternative to Bangladesh. "Even Indonesia, Nicaragua, and Honduras are not."

Taking part at the event, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said despite being the most lucrative investment destination, the country needs further improvement in the ease of doing business. 

Addressing foreign investors, he said, "Come here, not to help Bangladesh but to help yourself." Returns of investment in Bangladesh are higher than in other countries, he added. 

The three-day business summit in Dhaka will kick off on 11 March. The FBCCI, on 50 years of its founding anniversary, will organise the event. The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority organised such an event for the first time in the country in 2021.

"All the government agencies working with the FBCCI regarding this summit, which will also help the country improve its business situation further," said FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin. "Of course, we have to resolve all the bottlenecks here," he added.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi also spoke at the event.