Doing business ‘easier’ in Bangladesh: Dutch investors

Despite blockades and general strikes, Dutch investors consider Bangladesh their preferred destination for doing businesses.

They termed Bangladesh as a “land of opportunities” and highlighted the “entrepreneurial spirits” they witnessed in the country, in a seminar on “Bangladesh: Opportunities and Best Practices”.

Bangladesh Embassy in The Hague organised the seminar in collaboration with Nyenrode University, Netherlands on Thursday, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

As many as 50 Dutch investors including those in information technology, logistics, waste management, water management, and business consultancy participated in the seminar.

Apart from the business community, representatives from the government agencies and the ministry of foreign affairs joined the seminar.

The foreign ministry said they were “unanimous” in their appreciation for the “entrepreneurial spirit and high level of enthusiasm and commitment they happily witnessed in the people of Bangladesh”.

The investors found Bangladesh as a “land of untapped potential with a huge market of its own”.

“According to them, Bangladesh is slowly but surely emerging as the gateway to South Asia given its geostrategic location with both China and India on either side of its border”.

The investors said the rise of ASEAN common market “makes it even more auspicious for the potential investors to consider Bangladesh as their next investment destination”.

Netherlands is a development partner and one of the export destinations of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh exports goods worth $858 million annually to the Netherlands and imports about $162 million.

Peter Van Bergen, proprietor of Budgetview and Impel IT solutions with big IT offices both in Dhaka and in Amsterdam, spoke in the seminar on why they choose Bangladesh as their investment destination.

He stated that commitment of the people of Bangladesh was “highly praiseworthy” and that he also found the level of spoken English “very satisfactory”.

He said he also found working in Bangladesh “easier” compare to other countries.

The seminar was divided into different panels where Dutch businesses and professionals moderated and spoke as panel discussants.

Vicenta Ariza, representative of Maruboshi Europe BV in Bangladesh said he found “commitment” and “enthusiasm” of people of Bangladesh “unparallel”.

The foreign ministry said he was unhesitant in his appreciation of the huge potential of Bangladesh when he said that “he will continue his stay in Bangladesh for at least next 10/15 years”.

He informed the audience that despite “general strike” his shippers in Bangladesh never failed to deliver.

Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal replied queries on general strikes.

He sought their cooperation and reassured them about government's “steady resolve to maintain peace and stability in the country”.

He drew their attentions to the European Union resolutions where the 28-countries bloc urged BNP to unequivocally distance itself from Jamaat-e-Islami and Hifazat-e Islam.

Copies of the resolutions were made available to the participants, the foreign ministry said.

Professor Desiree, Associate Dean of Degree Programmes, Nyenrode University also highlighted Bangladesh’s enormous potential.

Desiree informed the audience that Nyenrode University would continue their partnership with Bangladesh, which, in her words “represents the future of Asia”.

Rene Beerepoot of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency RVO presented Dutch assistance for firms to expand their business in Bangladesh.

He informed that there was a Dutch fund of 750 million Euro for Dutch businesses to expand their business in 66 countries, including Bangladesh.

“Dutch SMEs, if approved’ could receive low interest loan for up to 10-15 million Euro for business in Bangladesh,” he said.