Kolkata businessmen interested to investment in Bangladesh
The delegation of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a business organization in Kolkata, India, has expressed interest in investing in the economic zones of Bangladesh. Yesterday, they expressed their interest in a discussion meeting held at the office of the organization under the chairmanship of Sheikh Yusuf Haroon, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA).
A team of around 20 members of this organization from Kolkata is currently in Bangladesh on a five-day visit to check investment areas in Bangladesh. The meeting was attended by senior officials. In his speech, the executive chairman of Beza highlighted the development activities of construction economic zones in different regions of the country with the aim of accelerating the economic development of the country, and said, “Work is underway with the expectation of an additional 4 thousand billion US dollars in product production and export income every year by 2030.”
Sheikh Yusuf Haroon said, ‘Bangladesh and India have amazing cultural and traditional similarities and BEJA is constantly working to consolidate this bilateral relationship by establishing an economic zone. Beja is working on setting up two Indian Economic Zones, one at Mongla on the border between the two countries and the other at Mirsarai section of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpanagar in Chittagong.
Executive Chairman of Beza said that Beza is working to create investment opportunities in some other places bordering the two countries like Kushtia, Panchagarh, Bogra, Nilphamari. He also said that several Indian investment companies including Asian Paints, Marico, Sakata have already invested in various economic zones.
He also said that a total of 38 companies have started commercial production in all economic zones. Among them, 5 are in public economic zone and 33 are in private economic zone. He said, “According to the submitted investment proposal, the total investment here will be about 17.50 billion US dollars.”
The Kolkata business delegation expressed interest in tax holidays, nature of investment, import-export rules and related issues in jewelery industry and other industries. Besides, they expressed interest in investing in manufacturing, engineering, energy, power, IT, skilled manpower generation, modern agricultural management, shipping industry and service sector.
As the head of the delegation, the president of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gautam Roy said, ‘We are impressed by the hospitality of Bangladesh. Our organization has considerable interest in investing in Bangladesh Economic Zones. A fruitful discussion will continue in this regard.
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