She praised Bangladesh for the “impressive growth that has led to striking improvements in living standards, education levels and public health” while speaking at the annual general meeting of International Business Forum of Bangladesh in Dhaka on Thursday.
“As I have said on many occasions, I am so proud that the United States is such a strong partner with Bangladesh on this successful journey. I never finished that without saying that there is so much more we can do. And we can do it together,” she said.
The ambassador said over the past years, US-Bangladesh bilateral trade on goods had increased by 8.5 percent to nearly $7 billion.
“Most of this growth consists of Bangladeshi exports to the United States. Not surprising that we are your number one single country destination for Bangladeshi goods primarily and readymade garments sectors,” she said.
Bernicat emphasised ‘improvement in business and investment climate in Bangladesh and flow of trade’ in order to increase the number of jobs and amount of foreign direct investment.
“The more predictable and reliable investment climate is including tax collection, dispute resolution, political stability, infrastructure, electricity generation, among others,” she elaborated.
FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmad called for more foreign investment. “Look at Bangladesh. Growth was no less than 6 percent in the previous few years. It can be 7 percent in the future, which you can find in only a few countries. And we are doing this without GSP facilities.”
IBFB President Hafizur Rahman urged the US to set up two trade centres, one each in Dhaka and Chittagong.