Canadian High Commission in Dhaka Benoît-Pierre Laramée on Sunday said there must be an end to the ongoing violence as it is hurting the economy and people with an added impact on Bangladesh’s image.”We’re seeing the terrible impact on the Bangladeshis and the country. This is truly unacceptable,” Laramée told a press conference while responding to a question from UNB mentioning its impact on the economy.Laramee said, all the businesspeople like stability and peace to do their investment and mentioned that these are the conditions to increase Canadian investment in Bangladesh. Canada Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CanCham) President Masud Rahman, among others, spoke at the press conference. The Canadian diplomat reiterated that there must be an end to the ‘current situation’ because this will eventually add an impact on Bangladesh’s image.”I’m also very saddened and distressed when I see the sufferings of the victims. These victims are certainly the most vulnerable people. There must be an end to violence and there must be a creation of peaceful political space.” He said they know that the economic and social development have some foundations that are built on democracy, respect of human rights, good governance and peace.Responding to another question on how the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Canada can be increased, Laramée said, “This is something what we to promote. As we move forward, I believe the next step is to increase Canadian FDI in Bangladesh.”Mentioning the preconditions of investment and doing business, the diplomat said Canada is working in partnership with the people and government of Bangladesh to secure prosperity for both nations as Bangladesh moves towards middle-income status. “With duty-free access being offered to Bangladeshi exporters, there’ re tremendous opportunities to increase bilateral trade between our countries,” he said.Masud Rahman emphasised the importance of collaboration with the Canadian and Bangladeshi private sector to attract new investment.On the success of trade show, he said the venue of the ‘Showcase Canada 2015: Trade and Education Fair’ was always crowded. “It’s an instrumental to boost trade between two countries.” Canada and Bangladesh’s bilateral trade surpassed Canadian $ 1.9 billion in 2014 and both the countries are expecting it to cross Canadian $ 2 billion by 2015.According to CanCham, there has been remarkable growth in trade relationship between the two countries. In the last 10 years, the volume of trade has grown by over 300 percent.Meanwhile, Bangladesh has become the second largest source of Canadian merchandise imports from South Asia, after India.Canadian merchandise exports to Bangladesh were $ 709.3 million in 2014, up from $ 660.7 million in 2013. Canadian merchandise imports from Bangladesh were a little over $ 1.2 billion in 2014, up slightly compared to the ones in 2013.
