Encourage tourism, trade and investment will follow: Thailand tells Bangladesh

Thailand's ministers for industry and tourism have advised Bangladesh to encourage tourism, which, they say, will help attract trade and investment to the country.

“The easiest is to first attract tourism, then trade and then investment. If we can encourage tourism, trade and investment will follow,” Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang told a high-level panel discussion on the sidelines of the Bangladesh expo in Bangkok.

Minister for Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul in a separate session said tourism brings friendship between the countries.

The Bangladesh embassy in Bangkok and Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau jointly organised the three-day expo, first of its kind in the 44 years of diplomatic relations between the countries, to enhance trade and attract investment.

This showcasing of Bangladesh at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre is also aimed at presenting Bangladesh’s secular cultural background to the Thai people, who according to minister Sibunruang, know little about Bangladesh.

She asked Bangladesh to focus on Buddhist Circuit tourism that, she said, Thai people tend to get attracted to.

But they prefer India to Bangladesh, she said and asked Bangladesh to make its Buddhism familiar to Thai people.

Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid, and State Minister for Telecommunications Tarana Halim spoke at the panel and sought business and investments.

They said the present government in Dhaka was friendly towards investors who would get all facilities including assured repatriation of equity and dividend.

The commerce minister offered them a special economic zone, and sought duty-free market access to the Bangladesh export items.
State Minister for Power Hamid said Bangladesh would need at least $40 billion investments to meet its energy demand.

He particularly invited them for off-grid electrification in rural areas, and also in the LPG cylinder for household use.

“We can also explore gas jointly in the Bay of Bengal,” he said.

The telecommunications minister, Tarana Halim, sought investments for the state-owned mobile operator Teletalk, and promised that her government was focused on 100 percent penetration of mobile phones.

“Teletalk goes to remote areas where private mobile operators do not want to go”. She said Thailand can also invest in nationwide fibre optic broadband network.

Threads of Heritage

While the panel discussion on the first day of the expo was focused on political commitments for trade and investment connectivity, a fashion show showcased the silk heritage between the countries.

Styled ‘Threads of Heritage’, the show was dedicated to Queen Sirikit as a tribute to Her Majesty’s contribution to promoting heritage silk in Thailand.
 
Bangladesh designers paid tribute to Queen Sirikit Chitralada Project Silk Shop by using Thai silk from North-eastern Thailand in their couture ensemble, apart from Bangladeshi heritage silk, Muslin, cotton and Jamdani.
 
The Thai designers paid tribute to Bangladesh heritage silk from famed Rajshahi silk.

State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki said: “We know Thailand, Thai food, silk. Unfortunately nobody in Thailand knows the products of Bangladesh. And that’s why we organised the fashion show with silk textiles”.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem said the ‘threads of heritage’ was the “threads of friendship and threads of Buddhism and threads of civilisation.”

She said the two nations are bound by ancient sea and land-bound trading routes shared in the Bay of Bengal basin and deep-rooted linguistic, cultural and Buddhist links.

She earlier said Thailand occupies a “special place” in Bangladesh’s foreign policy priority as a close regional and ASEAN neighbour and a fellow country in the Bay of Bengal.

At least 55 companies are displaying their export items mostly pharmaceuticals, diversified jute products and ceramics at the expo.