News
UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy meets business leaders at Dhaka Chamber
UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy Rushanara Ali, MP had a bilateral meeting with the business leaders of Bangladesh at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) on March 29, 2022. The meeting was chaired by the President of Dhaka Chamber Rizwan Rahman where Miran Ali, Vice President, BGMEA, Sonia Bashir Kabir, Founder and Managing Director of SBK Tech Venture, Group Chairman and Managing Director of United Group Moinuddin Hasan Rashid and Managing Director of Apex Group Syed Nasim Manzur also took part in the discussion.
During the meeting Dhaka Chamber’s President Rizwan Rahman said that the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and UK was USD 4.11 billion in 2021. UK’s net FDI stock in Bangladesh was about USD 2.53 billion and UK is the 3rd largest export destination for Bangladesh and in future it will grow further. Rizwan Rahman invited British investments in the ship building, RMG, agro-processing, leather and footwear, light engineering and skills development sector of Bangladesh. Bangladesh will enjoy duty free, quota free facility in the UK up to 2029 but he requested to allow Bangladesh to continue this facility even after 2029. He also said that Rules of Origin requirement facility can be eased and extended. Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) needs to be reduced and rationalized, he added.
UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy Rushanara Ali, MP said Bangladesh has done a tremendous success in the socio-economic sector. For the continuation of this progress she urged public and private sectors’ coordination is much needed. She also said that private sector development and trade expansion are the real growth drivers for Bangladesh’s economy. She also urged for enhancing bilateral partnership between UK and Bangladesh. She also said that removing bottlenecks will open up more investment opportunities here. She said that we have to ensure poverty alleviation in line with the economic growth.
British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Chatterton Dickson said that Bangladesh’s private sector is very strong and they are leading the economy from the front. He said UK is strong in service sector like education, healthcare and financial sector. In the industrial designing and skills development Bangladesh and UK can work jointly, he told. He said that the Mirsarai Economic Zone in Chattagram is a good place for attracting foreign investment and there are huge opportunity for UK’s investors as well.
Managing Director of Apex Group Syed Nasim Manzur said that Bangladesh needs to improve itself in the industrial product designing to attract quality buyers. He also invited UK investments in the pharmaceutical, RMG, healthcare and education sector of Bangladesh.
Founder and Managing Director of SBK Tech Venture Sonia Bashir Kabir said that UK can invest in Bangladesh in forming a digital banking eco-system.
Vice President of BGMEA Miran Ali said Bangladesh’s RMG sector is now very competent in terms of compliance as well as world class quality production. Well thought product designing capacity and synthetic cotton production have a good opportunity where UK and Bangladesh can jointly work, he added.
Group Chairman and Managing Director of United Group Moinuddin Hasan Rashid said that we are still lag behind in creating skilled nurses. UK can help us in this sector he said. Moreover, if UK universities come here to operate it will have a good demand to our students.
Senior Vice President of DCCI Arman Haque and Vice President Monowar Hossain were also present on the occasion.
Published on: 2022-03-29