BIDA pulls investment of $11b since inception in 2016
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) has successfully actualised around 65 per cent of the $11 billion fund received through various investment proposals from both home and abroad over the past four years.
On September 1, 2016, the Board of Investment and Privatisation Commission were merged to form BIDA, which was tasked with using underutilised government land or establishments to further the country's economic activities, said Md Sirazul Islam, executive chairman of BIDA.
"This includes encouraging domestic and foreign investment," he added, while addressing a press briefing on the organisation's fourth anniversary at its auditorium in Dhaka's Agargaon yesterday.
BIDA has worked tirelessly towards its goal to accelerate the sector by attracting more domestic and foreign investment, Islam said.
The organisation's primary concern is to make it easier for potential investors from home or abroad to carry out their operations by ensuring quality foreign direct investment services and an investment-friendly environment.
BIDA is preparing an effective one-stop service (OSS) by conducting multiple meetings, seminars, roundtable discussions and workshops with the concerned ministries in a bid to ensure that all the services investors require will be easily available online, Islam said.
The organisation aims to provide 154 services from 35 different organisations on its OSS platform, which already has 21 available services while another 18 will be added soon.
Besides, the rate at which government to business services are being integrated with the OSS should be accelerated as digital services are a driving force behind the development of any country's business climate, he said.
In regards to improving Bangladesh's ranking on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index, BIDA placed 84 reform proposals before the government.
Of the recommendations, 53 have already been implemented, including some revisions of the ACT policy and other laws related to investment.
"Reforms carried out within the specific parameters of the government's Doing Business Action Plan will stimulate broader reforms for Bangladesh's business climate," Islam said.
The finance ministry assured BIDA that it would bring necessary reforms to its policies in order to streamline investment procedures.
Among the changes made so far, reforming the 1997 Bankruptcy Act was one of the more major steps, he added.
The target for Bangladesh set by the prime minister to reach a double-digit ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index by 2021 is an achievable goal, according to the executive chairman.
Bangladesh rose from 176th position on the index to 168th last year, the World Bank said in its Doing Business report 2020.
Islam said the organisation routinely holds dialogues with representatives of the embassy of Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency and Japan External Trade Organisation to bring Japanese companies that are planning to shift their operations from China to Bangladesh.
The Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Project of BIDA aims at promoting employment and entrepreneurship, he said.
As such, the organisation would like to carry out training programmes on regulatory regimes and business procedures in an effort to create skilled entrepreneurs across all 64 districts of the country within the next two years.
In turn, this would help the government achieve its target to increase private investment, he added.
Under the programme, around 14,050 individuals have been provided training on entrepreneurship with 2,926 of them going on to launch their own start-ups.
The National Committee for Monitoring Implementation of Doing Business Reforms, headed by the cabinet secretary, is working towards an improvement in the ease of doing business while creating a more investment-friendly environment.
To do that though, the country will need to achieve and maintain changes to its rules and regulations, Islam said.
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