Spain offers to help develop Bangladeshi tourism

Spain has offered Bangladesh to develop the tourism sector of the South Asian country as the EU country has vast success in the sector.

"The tourism of Bangladesh has immense and untapped potentials which can bring a new avenue for Spanish and Bangladesh companies for investment," said Spanish Ambassador to Bangladesh Francisco de Asís Benítez Salas while speaking at the orientation ceremony of the new members and executive committee members of the Spain-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SBCCI) at a city hotel on Tuesday.

Bangladesh is planning to complete the first-ever tourism master plan by December 2022 to build a sustainable tourism industry attracting more inbound and domestic tourists.

The country has set a target of attracting 10 million tourists and earning a revenue of $8 billion by 2041. 

Terming the readymade garments (RMG) industry as the biggest success story of Bangladesh, Francisco Asís Benítez Salas said Spain, as a single country, is currently the fourth largest customer of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh exported goods worth $2.3 billion to Spain in 2020, which increased to $3.16 billion in 2021, registering 35% growth in exports, according to the Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh.

Spain imports goods worth almost three billion euro per year from Bangladesh.

"Our commercial relations are concentrated mainly in the RMG sector and that is working very well. However, our yearly exports to Bangladesh are still quite low, barely reaching 200 million euro. There is, therefore, a great potential for an increase in our commercial exchanges', he said.

"Our main target for the coming years is not only to increase our exports, thereby trying to improve the existing imbalance, but also to diversify our commercial relations beyond the RMG sector," he said.

Francisco de Asís Benítez Salas has said Madrid is ready to go into "more in-depth cooperation" as Bangladesh and Spain are reviewing its 50-year bilateral relationship.

He also said Bangladesh has a very active, innovative, well trained and internationally connected business community, whose men and women are always working tirelessly in pursuit of excellence.

"Today nobody is escaping the adverse effects of the current international situation. We are all flying with headwinds. But this should not discourage us from continuing our work. After all, crises bring opportunities," the Spanish diplomat said.            

He also said that Spain also has a great defence industry, including military hardware, navy ship building capacity and advanced military technology. 

The recent opening of a commercial office in the Spanish embassy and the existence of a Spain- Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce in Dhaka reflect this potential.

"Since the opening of our Embassy in Dhaka in 2008, we have been trying to identify business opportunities in Bangladesh and making the Bangladeshi market better known to Spanish companies of different sectors," said the ambassador.

A number of Spanish companies have been carrying out projects in Bangladesh's energy sector. Técnicas Reunidas (TR), one of those companies with an extensive international record, built with another Spanish company TSK two power plants in Ashuganj in 2014-2017.  Currently, TR is working on another project in Chattogram.

Técnica y Proyectos, SA (TYPSA) is another important Spanish company with a very successful record of activities in Bangladesh, having been awarded important infrastructure projects by the government.

Spain Bangladesh Chamber Of Commerce and Industry (SBCCI) President Ashik Elahi Chowdhury and Commercial Attaché of Spanish Embassy Francisco Javier Yapes also spoke at the event.