UNB, Dhaka :
Bangladesh must seize the opportunity to build a ‘strategic partnership’ with Japan through fulfilling their ‘expectations’ in terms of investment facilities that will help Bangladesh reach a higher economic development trajectory.
“It’s a big opportunity for us provided we can meet their (Japanese investors) expectations,” Salahuddin Kasem Khan, vice president of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI), told UNB in an interview on Wednesday.
Top business executives from 30-40 Japanese companies will accompany Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his September 6-7 Dhaka visit.
Salahuddin Kasem Khan, also Managing Director of the AK Khan & Company Ltd, said an opportunity has come for Bangladesh to build a strategic partnership with Japan, a country which is again looking at Asean and South Asian countries as investment destinations.
Japanese investment to China has dropped by nearly 45 percent in the last 11 months which Salahuddin Khan considers as a huge change as well as an opportunity for Bangladesh.
“In China, Japanese companies invest over US$ 5 billion a year. This has come down to half. We must seize the opportunity. Or else, they’ll (Japanese investors) go to Vietnam, Myanmar and other destinations,” he added.
The business leader said if Bangladesh fails to provide the required investment facilities to Japanese companies who are very interested to come to Bangladesh in a greater way, Bangladesh may miss another opportunity. “I think things would change, things need to be changed.”
Salahuddin Kasem, also chairman of the newly-formed company CEAT Bangladesh Ltd, said Japanese investors want ‘one-stop service’ in true sense which must be ‘effective and workable’.
“They’re not ready to waste time by going to each of the agency relating to investment,” he said adding that all the development institutions, particularly investment institutions – Board of Investment (BoI), BEPZA and BEZA should be housed in one building.
The business leader said Bangladesh Bank representative’s office can also be there in the same building to facilitate the foreign investors so that their problems can be resolved smoothly.
He appreciated government plan to merge BoI with the Privatisation Commission. “This is a good step. They’re telling again and again we want an effective workable one-stop service.”
Responding to a question, Salahuddin said Japanese investors are open to almost all the sectors for investment in Bangladesh. “I think they’re open to all sectors, right from backward linage to textiles sector. We should also focus on high tech.”
He said Bangladesh side had proposed that the industries should be collocated with the technical universities like Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) and Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) which will help the Japanese investors get highly skilled manpower.
On coastal belt development strategy, Salahuddin Kasem said the government’s new strategy towards coastal belt development is an excellent idea considering facilities available there.
“If we look at China’s industrial development, we see they had started with Shenzhen city,” he said adding that Bangladesh’s coastal belt strategy is a good way forward.
Salahuddin Kasem mentioned that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just concluded his Japan visit but hoped that the Japanese investment will come first in Bangladesh instead of flying to India.
After India in South Asia, Bangladesh is in the best position with strong macroeconomic indicators.
“Even, if you compare Myanmar with Bangladesh, there’re certain advantages which Myanmar doesn’t have. We’ve the regulatory framework and very much advanced banking system,” he said.
Japanese companies are interested to have exclusive economic zone so that they can get here a ‘Japanese community’ what they have done in many other countries.
The Japanese investors prefer Dhaka and Chittagong regions for their investments. They also consider Sylhet and Khulna regions for their investment.
In the past, Vietnam chose Korea as strategic partner and there has been a monumental change in the Vietnamese economy.
Over 3,300 investors exported products worth more than $40 billion last year and the number one export item was cellular phones by Samsung Electronics which alone exported $21 billion last year. Bangladesh could have got at least a portion of that as valuable FDI.