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Rahul Preeth
Doha
Bangladesh is ready to exclusively offer Qatari investors one or more Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which they can develop and operate as per their needs, Bangladesh's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam said in Doha on Saturday.
There are more than eight fully operational Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and 100 SEZs under construction in different parts of Bangladesh.
Urging investors in Qatar to take advantage of the investment regime in Bangladesh, Alam said,"The country has one of the most liberal investment policies among the South Asian countries."
The economy, which is among the top 10 fastest growing countries in the world, holds the comparative advantage in terms of market access, trainable and competitive youth workforce and competitive wages, the minister said while addressing a seminar in Doha on Saturday.
Highlighting the possible areas of investment for Qatari investors, Alam said, the country's garment sector holds a lot of potential for a rich country like Qatar to invest in.
Other sectors like capital market, energy, telecommunications and IT, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding, agro-processing, human resource development and water and marine resources are also promising, he added.
Bangladesh graduated from a least developed country to a middle-income country in March this year and is on track to be a developed country by 2041, Alam said.
He cited few examples of global thinktanks and research organisations which made positive statements about the consistent economic progress of Bangladesh and her bright position in future in the global economy.
For instance, Citi Investment Research and Analysis included Bangladesh in a list of growing Asian countries that according to the agency have the most promising per capita growth prospects. Goldman Sachs features the country in the 'Next 11' list after BRIC nations.
Minister Alam noted that the so called 'bottomless basket' is now the 32nd largest economy in the world (in terms of purchasing power parity) and is among the top-10 fastest-growing economies of the world.
He underlined the fact that despite the global economic meltdown and turmoil, Bangladesh achieved a sustained GDP growth between 6 and 7 percent for the last one decade with over 7 percent in the last three years. He said Bangladesh exports medicines to about 100 countries and aspire to become a major player in pharmaceutical sector with 20 percent growth.
Bangladesh government, he added, is working to position Bangladesh as a manufacturing, distribution and logistics hub by taking advantage of its geo-strategic location.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Qatar HE Ashud Ahmed said the growing Bangladeshi community in Qatar has been contributing not only to people-to-people contacts between the two countries but also contributing to the development of trade and investment.
He said the Bangladesh Embassy is always ready in patronising such an initiative. He expressed his optimism that such initiatives by the Bangladeshi community in Qatar would provide excellent platform for projecting Bangladesh's investment potentials among the Qatari business leaders and investors and contribute to strengthening bilateral relations of the two brotherly countries.
