Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought US investment in country’s different promising sectors such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), renewable energy, agro-processing, blue economy, tourism and hi-tech parks.
“We invite US investment in other lucrative sectors as ICT, renewable energy, shipbuilding, automobile, light engineering, agro-processing, blue economy, tourism and knowledge based hi-tech industries are among those,” she said.
She was presenting the keynote speech at a business roundtable joining virtually from her palace of residence in the Lotte New York Palace here on Tuesday (New York Local Time).
The Prime Minister hoped that the US-Bangladesh Business Council may continue to play a catalytic role in raising the present annual bilateral trade of US$ 9 billion to higher figures.
She also expressed her expectation that Bangladesh’s trade relations can be further strengthened with duty free access and other trade privileges in the US market.
The US-Bangladesh Business Council organised the virtual roundtable titled “Bangladesh Forward: The Frontier for Growth” in honour of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
PM’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed spoke at the roundtable while Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam were present.
The US-Bangladesh Business Council President Nisha Biswal, who moderated the roundtable, made opening remarks.
US-Bangladesh Business Council members and US and Bangladesh Business World leaders also took part in it.
Sheikh Hasina told the roundtable that Bangladesh has the most liberal investment policy in South Asia and that foreign investment is protected by acts of parliament and bilateral treaties.
The Premier added, “The demographic dividend, and our focus on developing skilled manpower ensures that investors here get skilled human resources at competitive wages”.
She said Bangladesh’s investment is heavily on improving the infrastructure and power supply to facilitate FDI in the mentioned and other promising sectors.
She added that the US is, of course, the largest investor in Bangladesh with stakes in energy, banking and insurance sectors.
The Premier said Bangladesh has recognized US’s energy sector cooperation and investment, which has contributed to building Dhaka’s power generation capacity that is now over 25,000 Megawatt.
“We are also looking forward to US investment in renewable energy,” she said.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh’s ICT sector is growing fast now with a billion-dollar export to 60 countries as the US is the top destination.
The ICT industry is expected to grow nearly five folds to reach Five-Billion Dollar mark by 2025, she continued.
She went on saying that with more than 600,000 freelance IT professionals, Bangladesh is the right place to invest in ICT sector.
The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh is ready to offer from its 100 Economic Zones, one exclusively for American companies, and also invites US investment in its 28 High-Tech Parks.
