A foreign investor landing in Dhaka today will find things different in Bangladesh, if he had been here before.

Believe it or not. the Board of Investment (BOI) is ready with its one-stop shop. Clients --they are be the much-sought-after foreign investors --knocking at the government agency will have somebody from PDB. DESA or REB to deal with power supply, from Titas for gas line, from T&T to take care of phones. WASA for water and one from the Department of Environment.

The BOFs new chief — Farooq Sobhan is such an active person -- is writing to the Bangladesh Bank, then National Board of Revenue and the Ministiy of Land for sending their officers to Join them under one roof.

Not only that, from sometime this month, the foreign investors will receive a hero's welcome right from the airport; the BOI will have its own people posted there.

Sobhan. responding to the international business community here the other day. announced that it would be January 15. Some 15 days ahead of his own target, which sceptics said was impossible to hit. the former diplomat wouldn't claim the credit for it. calling it Just a coincidence.

The pieces were just falling together, he said in an exclusive interview to The Daily Star yesterday. his 12th day in office.

Sobhan took charge on December 7, flew to New Delhi the same evening, made a presentation at a conference of World Economic Forum the next day (Dec 8) and then rushed to airport for his flight to Calcutta to appear before a big bunch of big snots of the Corporate America trying, along with others from

Dhaka, for the next two days (Dec 10-11) to attract their attention to Bangladesh.

Getting his one-stop service centre ready with frantic phone calls to friends at different ministries. Sobhan. a pragmatic man as he is. wouldn't also say there wouldn't be any problems any more. "But we will give it a good try." he says.

He knows all too well that somebody asking for a gas connection for his industrial unit at a place not reached by Petrobangla pipelines wouldn't just get it. with or without the

gas man at BOI. There's no harm in trying it when and where it is possible, he would say.

On contract for only a year after retiring from a distinguished 33-year career in for-

eign service, he is devising what he calls a programme of action for 1998. The numero uno on his agenda is boosting image. "Whether we like It or not. internationally Bangladesh suffers from an image problem. We have to work on changing that image."

He plans to employ the latest communication techniques, as part of his programme of action. targetting "certain prospective investors" and "prepare good portfolio pro-tects" to lure them to langladesh.

BOI. he says, will carry out the task along with Bangladesh's missions abroad. For him, it seems easy to make his former colleagues work: he knows them better. "I was a foreign secretary and I can tell you that every single Bangladeshi ambassador or high commissioner, or head of mission is deeply conscious of his obligations and responsibilities."

He has done his calculations. "I believe Bangladesh can certainly be one of the places for investment. China attracts 40-50 billion dollars a year. India gets 4-5 billion dollars. If we get a percentage of that. I think that would be a very good amount.

'We have to try. gear up and mobilise BOI so that it can play that role. We have designed a very attractive incentive package. But building a positive image of the country is very important."

Sobhan believes the Southeast Asian crisis has come as "a window of opportunity" for Bangladesh.

"Countries like Singapore. South Korea and Malaysia themselves attract FDI as well as make overseas investment. Those who earlier Invested in South Asia and Southeast Asia

are now looking for alternative locations."

He finds his arguments backed up by global investment trends. Of the total FDI flow to the developing world during 1996 and until mid-1997, about 95 per cent went to countries now in trouble or their neighbours. "ASEAN alone got 100 billion dollar^ during the last two years. This Includes the intra Asia-Pacific FDIs."

In addition, the Japanese and US investors are also interested in Bangladesh. He is also eyeing South Korea and Malaysia which will need to relocate some of their manufacturing units.

Will the SEA investors And Bangladesh attractive when their own currencies have lost value and gained an extra-ordinary competitiveness when it comes to exports?

Yes. Soohan says, giving three reasons for them to come to Bangladesh. First, the ASEAN countries do not enjoy GSP facilities, but Bangladesh Is getting it and will continue for seven more years.

Second, "the Indian market is going to open up faster to Bangladesh than to any ASEAN country. The company locating itself in Bangladesh has not only the local market but also the Indian market."

Third. RMG exports will not be affected by the SEA countries' economic problems. "We need huge investment in RMG backward linkage industry.

Investors will come because they are looking for a very good rate of return and this is the right place."

He is also aware that a lot many came and registered with BOI in the past years but couldn't be traced later. "Have they packed up and gone home?"

To try to find out how many

of them are here doing business, he is sending BOI inspectors' out. "By the end of January, BOI will be knowing what happened to those registered with us in last 12 months."

In fact, BOI has always boasted fantastic registration figures. In 1996-97 alone, as many as 138 companies came to BOI with plans to put In as much as US$ 1.054 million. Agreements for three power plants promise US$ 700 million in investment to generate 700 megawatts of electricity by

It's only natural that those who register may not always invest, he says. "One investor may visit as many as six countries before choosing one."

BOI deals with all FDI outside the export processing zones, which are administered by BEPZA. whose effective one-stop service and hassle-free environment have found good responses from Investors. In 1996-97, 17 projects were launched with an investment outlay of USS 54 million.

Sobhan said there was no reason for BOI to be the empowered to deal with foreign banks opening branches in Bangladesh or foreign portfolio capital, a plea made earlier this week by the Foreign Chamber. He says the central bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission should be doing that, a globally-acceptable practice.

Image problem aside, lack of proper infrastructure is a major barrier. This is one area which needs massive investment, he says. Investors, according to Sobhan. are showing interests in build-operate-own or build-operate-transfer formula. One glaring instance is the likely agreement by this year for the Dhaka bypass. He also refers to

the first privately-built container terminal by Americans to be made operational by this year.

But his emphasis remains on harnessing as much as possible from regional cooperation. "Regional blocks are a new reality in globalisation." he says, referring to Bangladesh's recent efforts so far in building new blocks, all of which he pushed through as foreign secretary.

On top of everything, selling Bangladesh will he the main task for him. He plans to organise seminars and roundtable conferences here and in countries he will lie targetting.

Sobhan has done one miracle. He has made his colleagues in the civil service, known for their notoriety in being non cooperative, work. At least 10 officers from the infrastructure agencies have been posted at BOI under its administrative control.

The new-found optimism in an otherwise pessimistic atmosphere is evident. Senior colleagues do not mind longer office hours. Or as a junior officer says In a soliloquy: "This is the last chance for BOI.” Nine years have gone by since it was born on January 1. 1989.

While BOI is having its home page on the web site to try to reach those sitting worldwide with money to invest, it new executive chairman says competition is the key. Can Bangladesh compete with China in such as areas toys, electronics that he readily refers to? “The question is how must we compete?" he shoots back.

Sobhan has seen the world. So the 57-year-old 'young' man knows what and how to do to match or beat others racing for the piece of the action.