BoI to embark on mission to woo more investment
The Board of Investment (BoI) will request big foreign investors already present in the country to try and persuade others to follow their example and seek business opportunities in Bangladesh.
The request will be passed on by at a series of meetings to be held by BoI officials with chief executives of the 50 top foreign investors in the country.
The move is part of a campaign to rejuvenate efforts to increase the flow of foreign investment. After falling in the fiscal year 2005-6, foreign investment grew by just two percent in the fiscal 2006-07, according to Bangladesh Bank.
"We have decided to urge our existing investors to invite their fellow companies in their own countries to come here and invest. We may start sitting with the executives from next month," an executive member of the BoI said.
The BoI also decided to write to all 44 heads of Bangladesh's missions abroad to invite potential investors to invest in Bangladesh.
"The foreign missions usually do not work on inviting investors into the country. However after gaining approval from the government the foreign missions will work in an organised manner to hold seminars and meetings with potential investors to invite them to invest in Bangladesh," a high official of the BoI said.
Sources said the BoI has assigned two officials to regularly communicate with Non Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) who have shown an interest in investing in Bangladesh.
Recently the BoI arranged seminars in Canada and the UK to encourage NRBs to invest in Bangladesh.
Sources said around two dozen NRBs are in contact with BoI officials to invest in telecommunication, shipping, airlines, courier services, tourism and some other service sectors.
The BoI will soon arrange seminars at USA and Italy as part of the initiatives.
According to the Bangladesh Bank statistics, the country received US$ 760m foreign investment during the fiscal against $743 million in the previous fiscal. This compares to $854 in the fiscal 2004-05.
Sources said indecision about proposals by Tata Group and Mittal Group and political uncertainty limited the growth in investment.
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