FBCCI team set to go on business expedition

A team of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) is going to start a business expedition next week to three Southeast Asian nations to boost trade and investment.

The 30-member team comprising FBCCI President Abdul Awal Mintoo, First Vice-President Kamaluddin Ahmed and members will leave Dhaka for Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia on November 10.

In first leg, the businesspeople will visit Singapore. They are scheduled to meet Singapore trade minister. Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan will join FBCCI team in Singapore and lead discussion with business leaders including members of Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, Malay and Chinese chambers. Bangladesh Embassy will arrange the meetings.

The FBCCI team will then fly to Hanoi on November 13. They will hold business and investment promotion meetings with members of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In the last leg, businesspeople will fly to Phnom Penh on November 15. The business team will meet business leaders of Cambodia Chamber of Commerce and Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce. They will wrap up the week-long trip on November 18 when they will leave Cambodia for Bangladesh.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday FBCCI President Abdul Awal Mintoo said in line with government's 'look east policy' they would try to persuade business leaders of those countries to invest in Bangladesh.

"The FBCCI will hold interactive meetings with businesspeople and inform them about investment incentives available in Bangladesh," he said.

"As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is closing to a free trade agreement from 2010, economic importance of the bloc is increasing and we should try to forge trade relation with association," he said.

The FBCCI team will invite entrepreneurs of those countries to visit Bangladesh to see the investment climate here. The chamber team will also invite them to participate in Dhaka International Trade Fair to showcase their products.

The FBCCI chief said the trip would help increase investment flow and trade volume between Bangladesh and three Asean economies.

UNB adds: Meanwhile, Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ngo Van Hoa met the FBCCI chief yesterday in Dhaka.

Hoa expressed the hope the upcoming visit of a FBCCI delegation to Vietnam next week would be able to identify the potential and find ways of enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two friendly countries.

President of Vietnam accompanied by a large business delegation is expected to visit Bangladesh in early part of 2004. Prime Minister Khaleda Zis has also been invited to visit Vietnam, the envoy said.

"She has accepted the invitation. Her visit is also expected soon after the visit of the Vietnamese President," the ambassador mentioned expressing optimism to strengthen bilateral economic relations.

Political relations between Bangladesh and Vietnam have always been excellent, but the economic relation does not commensurate with the economic potential of the two countries, he observed.

The Commerce Minister of Vietnam is also likely to attend the "International Business Conference on Global Economic Governance and Challenges of Multilateralism" in Dhaka in January next year.

These visits from the top level of the two countries as well as business leaders would enable the delegations to explore business potential between the two friendly countries, Hoa hoped.

Mentioning the Joint Economic Cooperation signed in 1997, the FBCCI chief emphasised on activating the JEC. He also stressed the need for cooperation in agricultural sector where Vietnam has achieved tremendous success.

Mintoo said the Agriculture Minister of Bangladesh has recently visited Vietnam and it will certainly help improve the economic relations.