Bangladesh expo in Bangkok to woo ASEAN market

Bangladesh is going to host the first-ever trade and investment exposition in Bangkok from Monday to showcase its export potentials to the key ASEAN market and lure investors.

Apart from businesses, the Bangladesh embassy will also promote the country’s culture, heritage and silk to the Thai people in the three-day event at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

“We want to change the narrative about Bangladesh in Thailand through this fair,” Bangladesh ambassador to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem told bdnews24.com ahead of the exposition.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and his Thai counterpart Apiradi Tantraporn would co-chair the event that would also witness the presence of several ministers of both countries.

Bangladesh’s State Minister for Energy and Power Nasrul Hamid, State Minister for Telecommunications Tarana Halim, and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam will join the exposition with their Thai counterparts.

At least 55 Bangladeshi companies that export goods and services to Europe and North America will display their products. The focus will be on pharmaceuticals, ceramics, knitwear, and diversified jute products.

“At the same time we have identified three areas –energy, telecommunications and tourism, where we seek investments,” the ambassador said, adding that those were her “priority areas”.

She said the Thai ministers for energy, telecommunications, and tourism would also participate in different panels.

“Our effort will be to change the narrative about Bangladesh. Thai policymakers do not know Bangladesh is a manufacturing hub. There is a lot of scope to invest here.

“We want to show them that Japanese and Chinese investors are coming to invest in our country,” she said.

A 20-member cultural troupe was also brought in to perform Bangladesh’s music and dance. Through a fashion show, they would promote Bangladesh’s silk which, the ambassador believes, is comparable to Thai silk.

“We have lot of similarities. But at the same time we are disconnected. Thai people do not know much about us. So one of our slogans (in the expo) will be ‘it takes 2 hours to visit Bangladesh’,” the ambassador said.

“This is the first such expo in the last 44 years of our diplomatic relations with this important ASEAN country,” she said. Thailand can serve as a gateway to other ASEAN countries for Bangladesh.

The 10  states of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- is home to an estimated 600 million people, larger than North America or the EU.

The Export Promotion Bureau which is co-hosting the expo with the Bangladesh embassy will also present the special economic zones for foreign investors.