“Investment for Smart Bangladesh”
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19 Feb 2023
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12:30 pm
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The Sheraton Hotel
The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) held its monthly Luncheon meeting today at the SHERATON (Banani).
Mr. Lokman Hossain Miah, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), attended the event as the Guest of Honor & Speaker and spoke on “Investment for Smart Bangladesh”. President – AmCham, Mr. Syed Ershad Ahmed, Mr. Syed Mohammad Kamal, Vice President, AmCham, members of the Chamber including the Executive Committee Members, Executive Director, AmCham, and former Presidents, foreign dignitaries, business leaders, media representatives and other distinguished guests attended the meeting.
He said that many foreign investors were coming to Bangladesh, but the volume of foreign direct investments was still lower in the country than many other competitor countries like Vietnam and Indonesia.
‘Vietnam can provide all services to investors within 35 days and the time in Indonesia is 49 days and in India 60 days. Our limitation is that investors require more than six months in Bangladesh to get approvals for starting their business,’ Lokman said.
The BIDA executive chairman said that they were working to make the one-stop service 100 per cent operational within three or four months to provide prompt services to the investors. ‘Recently, in a meeting I apprised prime minister Sheikh Hasina of the limitation over providing quick services to the investors. The prime minister asked me to ensure quick services to the investors like Vietnam,’ Lokman said.
AmCham president Syed Ershad Ahmed said that cumbersome policies of the National Board of Revenue were causing bottlenecks in business. ‘It is important that the government simplifies the process of setting up a business by reducing bureaucratic tangles, providing a stable and predictable regulatory environment and ensuring hassle-free automated revenue collection process,’ he said.
The AmCham president said that maintaining political stability, increasing easy access to finance and supplying skills in a competitive cost were also important to encourage investments. ‘By creating a favourable investment climate and focusing on the right areas, we can attract it from both the sources it needs to achieve its full potential and reach next stage building a Smart Bangladesh,’ Ershad said.
He said that the government should invest in infrastructure specially improving logistics facilities and human capital, as these were the key factors that influence investors’ decision to mobilize their hard-earned resources in a country like Bangladesh.
