A 72-member high profile business delegation is attending the two-day event organised by Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI).

The trade delegation includes some 15 members from manufacturing sector, eight from the medical service sector, representatives from the service industry, education and skill training providers and representatives of Telekom Malaysia.

Malaysia, after the USA and the UK, is the third largest source of foreign investment in Bangladesh. Bangladesh offers vast potential market of its own and also provides the access to the huge South Asian market.

On the sidelines of the two-day forum, three memoranda of understanding were signed. The memoranda include a joint partnership agreement signed between Pensonic Malaysia and Daffodil Computers under which Pensonic Malaysia will develop the market within one or two years and then set up a manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.

Pensonic presently exports its products to 26 destinations and in Bangladesh the company plans to foray into entry-level home appliance market in Bangladesh.

Another MoU was signed between BMCCI and the Federation of Malaysian Manufa-cturers while the third MoU was signed between the United group and a Malaysian company on joint venture investment in developing health care facilities in Bangladesh.

The two-day event was divided into six separate business sessions. On the first day the participants focussed on cross-border investment, trade regime in post-Geneva perspective and bridging the digital divide.

Today the three sessions will highlight issues on infrastructure development, export of food products to Malaysia and tourism and aviation sectors.

Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman, Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan, Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury, President of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abdul Awal Mintoo and President of BMCCI Salahuddin Kashem Khan addressed the opening session yesterday.

Malaysia presently has investments worth US$530.4 million in Bangladesh's telecoms, power and infrastructure sectors.

In the opening plenary session of the Forum Dr Mahathir Mohamad presented a keynote speech titled 'Malaysia 2020-From Vision to Reality'.

The trade statistics between Bangladesh and Malaysia show that in 2002-03 fiscal Bangladesh exported products and services to Malaysia worth about $4.71 million against the import from Malaysia of around $169.42 million in the same fiscal.

The exports from Bangladesh to Malaysia rose to around 50 percent at US$ 8.65 million in the fiscal 2003-04.

Malaysia imports camera parts, jute yarn, manufacturing items, leather, ready-made garments, pharmaceutical products, shrimp, printed materials, vegetables and other agro-based products.

The HSBC Bank, Aktel, Telekom Malaysia, Prime Bank, Electra International Ltd and FBCCI are the main sponsors of the event while Huawei, Eastern Bank Ltd, Erricsson, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Jubok Phone, Alcatel, West Mont Power, Malaysia International Shipping Corporation and Pragati Insurance are the co-sponsors. The event is managed by Conference and Exhibition Management Services.