Speech
of Hon'ble Foreign Minister as Chief Guest at
the Business Session on "Cross Border Investment:
Can Bangladesh be an Ideal Location to Attract Malaysian
Investments?" during First Bangladesh-Malaysia
Business Forum in Dhaka on 18 December 2004.
Assalamu
Alaikum and Good afternoon,
I feel privileged to be able to attend this
First Bangladesh-Malaysia Business Forum in Dhaka.
I felicitate the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce
& Industry for organizing this important event.
I am confident that this session will have a telling
impact on the direction and substance of trade and
economic relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Can
Bangladesh indeed be an ideal location for attracting
Malaysian investment?
To
begin with, Malaysian FDI in Bangladesh currently
stands at US$ 2 billion. Private investment proposals
from as many as 50 Malaysian companies have been registered
to date with the Board of Investment (BOI). A quick
check with BOI records show that Malaysian investors
have an interest in telecommunications, composite
textiles, petrochemicals, LPG bottling, furniture
making, electrical and electronics equipment manufacturing
sectors. Malaysian telephone and power sector companies
are already present here with a sizeable quantum of
investment.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
What
does Bangladesh have to offer?
I
can assure you, that the economy of Bangladesh now
rests on a sound footing. The foreign currency reserve
is quite satisfactory; the rate of economic growth
has risen to around 6.0 percent; per capita income
has increased; the volume of exports has gone up by
16 percent, reaching to US$ 7.6 billion. The recent
US$ 2.0 billion investment plan by the Indian giant
Tata to produce steel, power and fertilizer, US$ 3.0
billion investment plan by Asia Energy PLC from Australia
for exploration of coal mines, and Taiwanese companies'
US$ 3.0 billion investment plan in the next six years
are solid testimony of the confidence of foreign investors
in this country. Moreover, investors and businesspersons
from USA, UK, Germany, Russia, France, China, Japan,
South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
have also shown keen interest for direct and joint
venture investment in Bangladesh. According to UN
estimates, Bangladesh has recorded 133 percent growth
in foreign investment, the highest in South Asia in
recent years.
Bangladesh
maintains healthy macro-economic fundamentals, socio-political
stability and has the twin advantages of relatively
cheaper skilled workforce and reasonably priced natural
gas. Our added strengths are our democratic institutions
and the friendly disposition of our people. We offer
very attractive incentive packages for foreign investments,
both inside the Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and
outside, including tax-rebate, tax holiday, duty concessions,
exemption of VAT on certain utilities and services,
full repatriation of capital and profit etc.
Bangladesh
is vigorously pursuing a private sector driven export-led
growth strategy. We have given top priority to enhancing
foreign direct investment into Bangladesh. Foreign
investors now enjoy the same treatment as provided
to domestic investors.
The
government's role as a facilitator is directed towards
creating an enabling environment for expanding private
investment. The Board of Investment (BOI) and the
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA)
are providing institutional support services to prospective
investors.
Our
products enjoy GSP privileges in the European Union
and duty free and quota-free access to most of the
markets of the developed countries, including the
USA, the EU, Canada, Australia and Japan.
Such preferential treatment gives us cost advantage
over other competing countries. Our products are accorded
duty free access to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka,
and Thailand on a limited scale. With the implementation
of the proposed South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA)
from 01 January 2006, Bangladesh is going to become
part of an extended market covering the huge population
of South Asia; and under BIMSTEC, will also have access
stretching up to Thailand.
Distinguished
Participants,
The
geographical location of Bangladesh can very well
become a bridge between the emerging markets of South
Asia and the fastest growing markets of the ASEAN
countries. There
is much prospect of developing an inter-regional trading
arrangement with Chittagong port as the hub. Chittagong
can serve as an entry port and business gateway to
the region, especially for land-locked Nepal, Bhutan,
the seven north-eastern Indian states and northern
Myanmar. This would have deeper linkages beyond, both
into South East Asia and South Asia. Centering around
this, Bangladesh can become a regional hub for activities
relating to assembling, manufacturing, trading and
services, areas that have picked up in recent years.
As
I proposed this morning, ladies and gentlemen, business
leaders from Bangladesh and Malaysia could address
how best to utilize the opportunities offered by globalization
and effectively meet the challenges that the process
entails. An inter-regional free trade agreement encompassing
South and Southeast Asia can perhaps be an effective
tool. I would encourage an inclusive process of consultation
on this by experts drawn from both the public and
private sectors. While you deliberate on building
this formidable regional trade agreement, work could
perhaps begin on the process with a bilateral FTA
between Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Mr.
Chairman,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Let
me then answer the question that you have posed for
the session. Can Bangladesh be an ideal location for
attracting Malaysian investments? I would say YES,
emphatically YES.
I
thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
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