SAUDI ARABIA plans to invest several billion dollars in more than 30 projects in Bangladesh, including setting up an aircraft repair and maintenance facility in Lalmonirhat. The plan is part of Saudi efforts to boost bilateral and economic ties between the countries.
A large Saudi delegation, including two senior ministers, is expected to arrive here next month. The team will discuss the multi-billion dollar investment with officials of the Prime Minister’s Office and ministries concerned. The development comes after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the Kingdom in October last year.
While the PM was in Riyadh, she had called upon the Saudi business community to utilise the trade opportunities in Bangladesh. Hasina also met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who expressed his keen interest in becoming Bangladesh’s development partner. Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) officials said the oil-rich kingdom wanted to invest in commercially viable projects in Bangladesh, targeting oil and gas, fertiliser, cement, power plants, solar energy, and physical infrastructures.
While we eagerly await positive investments into Bangladesh the terms and conditions of the investments must also be carefully scrutinised so that these investments generate high levels of employment with respect to their capital expenditure. The last thing that we need are capital intensive projects which suck up our nation’s energy and land resources and pollute the environment beyond repair without generating any significant levels of employment.
The key to any investment should be its quality. We ideally should get investment which generates huge amounts of employment while keeping environmental degradation at a minimum. Typically these contracts should not involve huge subsidies from the government to these institutions. We should also be clear about the mechanisms involved so that the subsidies we give them don’t exceed the benefits we get from employment generation. There must be a clear pathway to remittances so that we can easily watch out for transfer pricing movements of monetary flows. If all of the above are in order then we can easily welcome such investment generation in Bangladesh.
A large Saudi delegation, including two senior ministers, is expected to arrive here next month. The team will discuss the multi-billion dollar investment with officials of the Prime Minister’s Office and ministries concerned. The development comes after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the Kingdom in October last year.
While the PM was in Riyadh, she had called upon the Saudi business community to utilise the trade opportunities in Bangladesh. Hasina also met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who expressed his keen interest in becoming Bangladesh’s development partner. Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) officials said the oil-rich kingdom wanted to invest in commercially viable projects in Bangladesh, targeting oil and gas, fertiliser, cement, power plants, solar energy, and physical infrastructures.
While we eagerly await positive investments into Bangladesh the terms and conditions of the investments must also be carefully scrutinised so that these investments generate high levels of employment with respect to their capital expenditure. The last thing that we need are capital intensive projects which suck up our nation’s energy and land resources and pollute the environment beyond repair without generating any significant levels of employment.
The key to any investment should be its quality. We ideally should get investment which generates huge amounts of employment while keeping environmental degradation at a minimum. Typically these contracts should not involve huge subsidies from the government to these institutions. We should also be clear about the mechanisms involved so that the subsidies we give them don’t exceed the benefits we get from employment generation. There must be a clear pathway to remittances so that we can easily watch out for transfer pricing movements of monetary flows. If all of the above are in order then we can easily welcome such investment generation in Bangladesh.
