Bangladesh investment scene will change soon: BIDA chief Kazi Amin

The investment environment in Bangladesh will witness a big change very soon, Kazi Aminul Islam has said.

Syed Nahas Pasha London Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 5 May 2017, 05:31 AM
Updated : 5 May 2017, 09:34 AM

Executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority or BIDA, he was in London to take part in 'Invest Asia 2017', a two-day international conference organised by Malaysia's Maybank.

He gave a presentation on the country's current investment scenario on the first day of the conference.

A former PMO secretary and alternate executive director to The World Bank Group, he spoke to bdnews24.com on a range of topics including stock market potentials and a post-Rana Plaza apparel sector. 

Bangladesh has recently introduced several reforms for creating a liberal investment setting, which in some ways made it more attractive than Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, he said.

BIDA is working to spread the promotion of investments in every part of the country, going beyond Dhaka and Chittagong.

"Bangladesh will witness a big change in the near future. The signs of that are already apparent," he said.

Bangladesh, in product level was involved deeply in the global market, but that is not its case in investment or finance, he said. So it has been informing foreign investors on the possibilities of direct investment in various sectors.

The stock market is now 'much safer and disciplined', according to the BIDA chief and Bangladesh has been inviting foreign investors to join there as well.

There have been on talks on the possibility of merging foreign operators like Nasdaq, Dow Jones to Bangladesh's stock market.

"It’s not just about money, the knowledge that comes with foreign investment, expertise, global best practises, these needs to reach Bangladesh.

"Local organisations cannot by themselves achieve global standards for the finance sector. So we've been asking for investment there too. We've talked to many people here. We told them to come to Bangladesh."  

Bangladesh has introduced a law for one-stop service to speed up investments and once it is implemented within the next six months, investors will not need to roam various government offices, he said.

 

"We can hope the service will be of international standard. Once implemented, Bangladesh will be recognised as a global destination for investment."

Representatives of various banks, corporate institutions and government arms from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Sri Lanka were taking part in conference at London's May Fair Hotel.