Finance minister for attracting more FDI

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday stressed the need for attracting more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the betterment of the country.

"We want more FDI. Attracting as much as we can in our country will bring betterment for us. We are now capable of delivering all necessary infrastructure," he told reporters while replying to a question after chairing two separate meetings on the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP).

The finance minister said the CCEA meeting also approved a proposal for scrapping the proposed construction of Laldia Bulk Terminal project from the Public-private partnership (PPP) list.

Asked why the project was dropped from the PPP list, Kamal said the government sometimes changes the project implementation methods if those cannot meet the demand of time.

He said although it is true that the government is yet to fully sell the idea of PPP in the country, it would move ahead facing all the problems. The PPP concept will not be deterred, rather it will move ahead.

Replying to another question, he said the closing ceremony in observance of the golden jubilee of the country's independence could not take place due to the high Covid infection rate.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a proposal to procure various services under Direct Procurement Method (DPM) to hold the closing ceremony and other functions as part of the observance of the golden jubilee of the country's independence in a colorful and befitting manner.

The finance minister said the meeting approved a proposal from the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs to procure various services through outsourcing under DPM method to implement various round the year programmes including closing ceremony and other functions of various ministries and divisions to observe the golden jubilee of country's independence in a colorful and befitting manner.

Kamal said the meeting approved another proposal  from the ICT Division to procure Oracle Could under DPM method for the four-tier national data centre under the Bangladesh Data Center Company Limited.