Missed the Boat in Vietnam? Go to Bangladesh, says top official of KOTRA

Jong Won Kim, the Director General of the Green Growth Department at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Photo: Collected

Companies that missed investment opportunities in Vietnam and are looking to relocate factories from China should consider investing in Bangladesh, which is currently welcoming $100 billion in investments and offering numerous benefits to become a trillion-dollar economy and a developed nation, said Jong Won Kim, the Director General of the Green Growth Department at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

Kim made this statement as a panellist in a plenary session titled "Bangladesh $100 Billion Investment Opportunities in Key Sectors for Investors to Leverage" on the second day of the Bangladesh Investment Summit 2023 organized by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in the capital.

During his keynote, Salman F Rahman, the prime minister's private industry and investment Advisor presented the strengths of the country's economic journey, tremendous development in social indicators, and opportunities available for global investors.

The country's GDP has grown by five times in the last 14 years with an annual average rate of more than 6%, and it has a decades-long track record of boosting the annual average GDP growth by at least 100 basis points in every decade. This growth has already helped Bangladesh attract investors' attention, especially when it is projected to be the ninth-largest consumer market in less than a decade. Furthermore, its advantageous geographic position allows it to cater well to the most populated markets in the region.

Rahman presented the cost competitiveness of Bangladesh, highlighting that investors can save 47-84% in wages, 41-69% in managers' salaries, up to 89% in water costs, and up to 55% in electricity bills compared to the major peer economies that it competes with to attract investment.

According to Shahriar Alam, state minister for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh's trade and taxation treaties and openness to global conventions on good practices are added strengths. The session was chaired by Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain Miah, the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, and moderated by FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin.

The government itself, in partnership with the private sector, is making huge infrastructure investments to facilitate business. As the country capitalises on its much-discussed demographic dividends, it is already transforming into a digital nation and aims to become a smart nation by leveraging technology and its ICT talents, which already make up the world's second-largest ICT outsourcing workforce, said speakers at the event.

The summit featured local business leaders, representatives of global investors, trade bodies, and ministers from home and abroad.