Bangladesh providing all facilities for foreign investors: Tipu Munshi

Bangladesh is a lucrative destination for foreign investors as the government is providing adequate investment facilities, including investment protection, said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.  

"There is an opportunity to manufacture products in Bangladesh for export at a low cost. Any country will benefit from investing in Bangladesh," he said yesterday while speaking as the chief guest at the opening ceremony of 35th Chief Executive Officer (CEO) meeting of the Asian Trade Promotion Forum (ATPF) at Dhaka's Hotel Intercontinental.

Of the 23 member countries of the CEO forum, a platform of Trade Promotion Organisations (TPOs) in the Asian region, 26 delegates from 12 countries, including Bangladesh's Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) participated at the opening of the two-day long event.   

"Despite the global economic downturn due the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two and a half years, Bangladesh's economy was stable," said the minister.

"Recently, the Russia-Ukraine war has triggered an energy and gas crisis leaving an adverse effect globally and Bangladesh is no exception. Still, the economy of Bangladesh is moving in the right direction," he added.

Tipu Munshi said that the GDP growth of the country is above 6%, the per capita income of the people is increasing and all economic indicators are moving forward in a positive trend as the Government has been providing all kinds of cooperation in trade, development and employment creation.

"The Asia Pacific region is home to about 4 billion people. Mutual information exchange, jointly taking up projects and implementing them through the ATPF will benefit all. This forum can play an important role in the economic development of the region," said the commerce minister.

The ATPF member countries are – Australia, People's Republic of China, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Lao PDR, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Macau, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam.

The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) is serving as the forum's secretariat

CEOs of member TPOs gather once a year in the CEO meeting, which is being held in Dhaka this year, to discuss timely issues regarding international trade promotion and other relevant matters including joint projects and implementation.

The meeting also focuses on trade expansion through network strengthening, identifying problems in regional trade and solving them through direct communication.