PM urges Turkish businesses

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on  Friday urged the Turkish businessmen to relocate their labour intensive industries to Bangladesh and derive immense benefit as the country offers most liberal investment policies.
She made the appeal while delivering her speech at a luncheon meeting with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey.
Turkish education minister Ömer Dinçer, TOBB president M Rifat
Hisarcıklıoğlu and FBCCI president AK Azad also spoke on the occasion where leading businessmen of Turkey were present.
Hasina said as an LDC, Bangladesh enjoyed duty-free and quota-free access to the European Union, which had recently relaxed rules of origin for garments exports from Bangladesh.
‘By relocating labour intensive industries to Bangladesh, Turkish businesses can immensely benefit from the facilities in accessing to
EU and other developed countries’ markets,’ she said.
The prime minister said it was almost decided that Bangladesh and Turkey would sign FTA soon. ‘For businesses we’ve opened up our market.’
The Board of Investment in Bangladesh that deals with the requirements of foreign investors is a modern and friendly institution with a `one stop shop service’, she said.
Hasina said Bangladesh had the most liberal FDI regime in South Asia, allowing 100 per cent foreign equity, easy remittance of royalty, profits and income, tax holiday, concessionary duty on the import of machinery, full repatriation facilities of dividend and capital on exit, etc.
She mentioned that Goldman Sachs included Bangladesh in its list of ‘Next 11’; JP Morgan in its ‘Frontier Five’; Gartner among its 30 best outsourcing destinations; and Standard and Poor, and Moody’s placed Bangladesh ahead of all countries in South Asia, except India, in terms of investment opportunities.
The World Bank has ranked Bangladesh as the 20th country for Investor
Protection ahead of India, China and Vietnam; and UNCTAD, in its annual Global Investment Report, mentioned FDI inflows to Bangladesh increased by 30 per cent in 2011.
The prime minister said that the government had adopted the public-private-partnership policy to build infrastructures such as highways, subways, mono-rail, railroads, power stations, etc.
‘We’ve also a plan to build a third seaport and a deep sea port at strategic location as well as an international airport to meet the rising demand of air travel,’ she said.
Hasina said that there were also huge potentials for joint ventures, and individual investment in pharmaceuticals, tourism, manufacturing, ICT, ceramics, agro-based industry, etc.
‘I, therefore, invite you to take advantage of the opportunities. We are eager to work in partnership with you for mutual gains and benefits, in sharing profits and prosperity as we journey to the future.’
She said that despite recent global economic crisis, Bangladesh had maintained a GDP growth rate of about 6 per cent, achieved 6.7 per cent in the last financial year, and aimed to reach 7 per cent this year.
The prime minister said the Sixth Five-Year Plan covering 2011-2015 was designed to achieve 8 per cent growth. Moreover, the export growth last year was over 41 per cent, and income from remittances from Bangladesh nationals living abroad was a substantial $12 billion.
In recent years, she said Bangladesh had rapidly developed in manufacturing, infrastructure building, human resource development, banking, corporate and other sectors, and rested solid on healthy macro-economic fundamentals, socio-economic stability, and a domestic market covering a population of 160 million people.
‘Bangladesh’s strategic geographical location, close to India and China, and regional connectivity with Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and South East Asia, places it in the heart of a market of three billion people, and also as a natural regional hub of enormous economic activity in the region.’
Hasina said that the policy of connectivity included building of roads, railways, waterways and highways for enhancing trade, commerce, economic cooperation and people to people contact. ‘We’re facilitating access to our ports of Chittagong and Mongla to all our neighbouring countries.’
She said Bangladesh also made huge progress in expanding ICT, computer and internet services, e-governance, connecting the entire country. ‘Sixty per cent of our population is below the age of 40 years providing an abundant and cheap labour force,’ she added.