PM Hasina urges US businesses to boost investment in Bangladesh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called on US business leaders to increase investment in Bangladesh.

The partnership would be mutually beneficial to both countries and strengthen their ties, she told the US-based Business Council for International Understanding, or BCIU, at a meeting in New York on Tuesday.

Hasina is now in the US to attend the 72nd United Nations General Assembly.

In her address, she highlighted Bangladesh's economic and social development.

“Our trade relationship is reflected by our increasing bilateral trade that totalled US $7 billion last year,” she said. “But, the full potential for the expansion of this relationship remains to be explored.”

Criticising the US tariffs on Bangladeshi apparels, Hasina said most of the developing nations had duty-free access to US markets due to preferential schemes.

“This is a basic inequality and injustice that needs to be addressed to ensure level-playing field for all the competitors,” she said.

Hasina also touted Bangladesh’s achievements under her administration.

“Since our government assumed office in 2009, Bangladesh’s economy has demonstrated an incredible resilience to sustain an average GDP growth of 6.2 percent despite … challenges including [the] global recession, and it crossed the 7 mark during the last two years.”

She also noted the 80 percent increase in per capita income, the inflation rate of 5.7 percent, the doubling of export earnings and the annual 1.6 percent increase in the human development index.

Bangladesh is on its way to becoming a modern ‘industrialised, digitalised, middle-income country’ by 2021 and a developed country be 2041, Hasina said.

Bangladesh has the most liberal investment policy in South Asia, she said.

“It includes protection of foreign investment by law; generous tax holiday; concessionary duty on import of machinery; remittances of royalty; 100 percent foreign equity, unrestricted exit policy; full repatriation of dividend and capital on exit, to name a few.”

Hasina thanked the audience for meeting with her and joked that they could tell how much important it was for her as she had taken time out of a busy schedule to attend it.

“I urge upon you, the leaders of the US business, commerce and industry to partner with us in investment, trade, share of profits and prosperity,” she said.