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South Korea may double investment in Bangladesh RMG sector

Dhaka trade team to go to Seoul next month

Star Business Report
South Koreans, encouraged by better quality of Bangladesh's ready made garments (RMG) and availability of cheap labour, are contemplating doubling investment here, said the director of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra), Dhaka.
“The quality of Bangladesh RMG products and lower labour cost compared to Vietnam and Cambodia would attract more Korean investment in the RMG sector,” Hanil Kim told The Daily Star from the one-day Korean trade exposition site at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital yesterday.
A Korean trade mission that organised the fair is now in Dhaka on a 3-day visit to Bangladesh. As many as 11 new companies were introduced in the fair.
According to the Kotra, a Bangladeshi trade team will visit Korea next month to explore business prospects with their counterparts.
Hanil Kim said in recent years entrepreneurs from the Republic of Korea (ROK) invested a lot in Vietnam and Cambodia on Bangladesh's political instability in the pre-1/11 period. However, cheaper labour force and
better production quality of RMG have brought them back here, the chief of the Dhaka office of ROK investment promotional agency added.
Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Suk-Bum Park, who was also present at the exposition, echoing Kim's view on political stability said, "Such stability and business-friendly climate are pre-requisite to more foreign investment in Bangladesh."
Kim expected that the future Slbillion investment plan would create an employment opportunity of at least 350,000 people, directly and indirectly.
A total of 120 Korean companies, including 62 in the export processing zones (EPZs) , are now in operation in the country Bangladesh, where 62 in EPZ, which produce mainly textile products, paper and plastic.
Kim said Koreans would invest the additional amount of money within a year in power and construction besides RMG sectors. The amount of their present investment in the EPZs is USS 900million.
The Korean Electricity Power Company (KEPCO) has already started operation in
the power sector here with constructing individual power plant (IPP) in recent months.
Meanwhile, SK Network and KT Korea, two Korean telecom companies who are interested to invest in Bangladesh's telecommunications sector, have already opened their branch offices in Dhaka recently to get themselves prepared for future operation.
"Korea is interested to invest in telecoms sector, but not in manufacturing,"according to Koo Ja Dong, head of the Korean Trade Mission.
Bangladesh is also a major export destination of South Korea. It exported goods worth around US$ 600 million to Bangladesh last year, while Bangladesh exported mainly garments products and frozen foods worth around USS 100 million.
The items Bangladesh imports from ROK are garment machineries, such as textile, dying, embroidery and circular machineries, and adhesive tapes.
Kotra was established in 1962 as a national trade promotion organisation, which now operates as the national investment promotion agency of Korea.