Public and private sector leaders of Bangladesh and Malaysia at a virtual event discussed the special relationship between the two nations, and the opportunities to leverage the socio-economic complementary that exist.
A press release said, the event, titled “Showcase Bangladesh 2021: Bangladesh-Malaysia Investment Summit”, is a platform jointly organised by Standard Chartered and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).
The virtual forum showcased the partnership potential between Bangladesh and Malaysia and highlighted the emerging strategic opportunities in a shifting global landscape.
Delegates representing public and private sectors, policymakers, investors, bankers and the diplomatic communities of both nations attended the event.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi joined the event as chief guest, while Salman Fazlur Rahman, Private Sector Industry & Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister was present as guest of honour.
Tipu Munshisaid, “Relationship between Malaysia and Bangladesh are characterized by a number of complementarities. It is time to take advantage of these complementarities and begin our respective journeys to become high income economies”.
‘Malaysia and Bangladesh have historically had extremely good relationships and I believe any kind of cooperation between the two countries is a win-win situation for both countries. As we ascend to the next level, we realise the need to pick up the pace’, said Salman Fazlur Rahman.
High commissioner of Malaysia to Bangladesh Haznah Md. Hashim said, “In term of the close economic relations, our investment in Bangladesh cumulates to more than $3 billion on various sectors like telecommunication, infrastructure education and so on. To make this already established relationship even stronger, I would suggest the consideration of tax incentives in the short run and to reduce trade barriers and implement FTA to help trade relations grow even stronger,”.
“We have been in Bangladesh for more than 20 years; I think that is in itself a testimony to our success story in the country. If you want to look at the reason behind this success, it was the collaboration between the government and us as a developer at the time in formulating a successful public private partnership that attracted private sector investment to serve the power sector’s requirement,” Datuk Md Nor bin Ali, chief investment officer, Edra Energy.
“International investors have an excellent track record of operating in Bangladesh and are recognized as the leading taxpayers in sectors such as Telco, Insurance, Financial Sector, and FMCG. As both Bangladesh and Malaysia progress towards a common goal of becoming high-income countries, there is a host of shared opportunities that are yet to be explored, in order to realize the full potential of the collaboration between our two economies,” said Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO, Standard Chartered Bangladesh.
Executive Chairman of BIDA Mohammad Sirazul Islam said, “The relationship between our two nations is based on the spirit of long-term friendship. Malaysia has been one of the first to recognise our country from the beginning.” He added, “Bangladesh has bilateral and international treaties which we have signed with Malaysia and both governments are actively considering FTAs which will definitely boost bilateral trade between the nations. We look forward to facilitating the entry and growth of more Malaysian businesses in Bangladesh.”
Standard Chartered and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) formed a partnership in January 2021 to jointly promote Bangladesh as a preferred investment destination and work together to bring in targeted global investments to the country.
This webinar was the second initiative to be undertaken through this partnership.
The first event held under the auspices of this partnership was China-Bangladesh virtual investment summit, where nearly 300 Chinese investors and their representatives participated.
