Economic Reporter :
British State Minister for Trade and Investment Rt Hon Lord Francis Maude of Horsham informed Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali, MP, that he will organise a British business delegation visit to Bangladesh in the first quarter of 2016.
He conveyed this during his call on the Bangladesh Foreign Minister at the sideline of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta on 24 November. Foreign Minister Ali appraised the British Minister on the huge investment and business opportunities in Bangladesh.
Foreign Minister informed that 100 Special Economic Zones had been earmarked for foreign investors, which had already generated considerable interest among many investors from various countries. ‘It will be a missed opportunity for the British investors and businessmen if they fail to take advantage of the offers currently available in Bangladesh’, he added.
The British Trade and Investment Minister commended the successes of Bangladesh in social and economic sectors. Recalling considerable British investment in Bangladesh, he expressed his interest in enhancing cooperation in different sectors, especially in infrastructure projects. In this connection, he referred to the Paira Port feasibility study being done by the British experts. He highlighted the British expertise in complex engineering, operational and management capacities in running the sea and airports, power projects, container terminal, railway and highways and expressed keen interest of the British private sector to invest in these projects. He also referred to their excellence in services sectors including investment financing, insurance and reinsurance services.
The Foreign Minister informed that many big projects have been taken up under Public-Private Partnership arrangements and he invited British investments in those. Mahmood Ali also raised the difficulties facing the curry industry in UK due to restrictions on employing chefs from Bangladesh. He emphasised that it was not a migration issue rather a business matter which unless addressed properly could severely affect the billions of pound curry industry.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Md. Abdul Hannan, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Private Partnership Office Syed Afsor H. Uddin, Executive Member of the Board of Investment Abduz Zaher and senior officials of the Foreign Ministry were present during the meeting.
