The Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCCI) requested the government for removing structural barriers to doing business to attract more Chinese investments.
The chamber made the suggestion at a workshop titled ‘Investment Facilitation and BIDA’s Investment Aftercare Services’ organized jointly by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority and BCCCI at the BCCCI office in the capital.
Al Mamun Mridha, secretary general of BCCCI who presided over the workshop, said in his speech that ‘Easing out structural impediment of doing business, dispute settlement mechanism and enhancing the efficiency of the government agencies concerned should be further enhanced and interconnected.’
Ke Changliang, president of the China Enterprises Association in Bangladesh, observed that even after the Covid pandemic, foreign direct investment from China had increased by 13.5%.
He suggested that the foreign ministry of Bangladesh should form a security team dedicated to the safety and security of foreign investors as the inflow of Chinese investors kept increasing.
Commercial counsellor of the Embassy of China Song Yang said that China was pleased to be a strategic partner of Bangladesh and it always attached top priority to development cooperation.
Avijit Chowdhury, an executive member of BIDA, said that Bangladesh was an ideal investment destination, especially for foreign direct investments from China.
BIDA, as the facilitating government agency for enhancing investment, is open to all investors at all times, especially to investments in Bangladesh from China, he said.
The workshop also addressed issues of procedural modalities at the National Board of Revenue, easing out visa procedures, long-term visas for investors, e-visa, investment aftercare services, security clearance from the concerned security departments of the government, and required supply of utilities like power and gas.
The workshop highlighted that out of 67 facilitating services for investors, BIDA alone provided 23 services and it also noted that BIDA was approaching a joint supervision activity concerning technical assistance, skills development, and compliance issues, it said.
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