FM to NRBs: Investment for blue economy

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Business Desk :
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday encouraged non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) to consider huge area of ocean for their investment as Bangladesh successfully negotiated with India and Myanmar to demarcate its maritime boundary.
“Now we’ve a huge area of ocean that can be exploited and explored for investment and economic benefits. This is one important area where NRBs can also consider for potential investment,” he said.
The Foreign Minister was addressing a session titled ‘Enabling Environment in Bangladesh for NRBs’ at the International Convention of the NRB Engineers held in a city hotel. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the event. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a dedicated division to deal with maritime issues, including investment in the Blue Seas.
“We’re working closely with the European Union to explore huge resources in our Economic Zones in the sea,” said Foreign Minister Dr Momen.
He reminded all that non-resident Indians and non-resident Chinese contributed hugely towards advancing their respective countries to their current stage of development. Dr Momen said the government of Sheikh Hasina has created a conducive and enabling environment for involving NRBs in Bangladesh’s development process by creating a number of investment authorities and bodies and bringing changes in the relevant laws and acts as well as establishing One-Stop-Service for ease of doing business.
“We hope you all will be encouraged by such investment-friendly environment and be partners of our development journey on a win-win basis,” he said.
The Foreign Minister said he has no doubt that together they can surely build the “Sonar Bangla”, the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheiklh Mujibur Rahman.
He said the government has set up a number of milestones to achieve Bangabandhu’s “Sonar Bangla” – as the county has already achieved the developing county status last year. “By 2021, we expect to be an upper middle-income country and by 2023, we expect the GDP growth rate to be increased to 10 percent by realising the goals of the Awami League 2018 Election Manifesto – “Bangladesh on March Towards Prosperity,” he said.
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