Star Business Desk

Malaysia has showcased keenness on investing in Bangladesh for being one of the fastest growing economies amidst the pandemic, said discussants at an online event jointly organised by Standard Chartered and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority yesterday.

The “Showcase Bangladesh 2021: Bangladesh-Malaysia Investment Summit” shed light on emerging strategic potentials in a shifting global landscape, says a press release.

“(The) Relationships…are characterised by a number of complementarities. It is time to take advantage of these complementarities and begin our respective journeys to become high income economies,” said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.

“Malaysia and Bangladesh have historically had extremely good relationships and I believe any kind of cooperation…is a win-win situation,” said Salman F Rahman, the prime minister’s private sector and investment adviser.

“As we ascend to the next level, we realise the need to pick up the pace. An important part of this process is digitalisation,” he said.

“Our relationship with Malaysia has common grounds on human resources, trade, investment culture and tourism and there are significant opportunities to further enhance the ties,” said Md Golam Sarwar, Bangladesh high commissioner to Malaysia.

“I urge the Malaysian investors who are already established in Bangladesh to encourage and invite their investor friends to invest in our rapidly growing economy,” he said.

“In terms of the close economic relations, our investment in Bangladesh cumulates to more than $3 billion on various sectors like telecommunication, infrastructure, education and so on,” said Haznah Md Hashim, Malaysian high commissioner to Bangladesh.

“To make this already established relationship even stronger, I would suggest the consideration of tax incentives in the short run and to reduce trade barriers and implement FTA to help trade relations grow even stronger,” she said.

“International investors have an excellent track record of operating in Bangladesh and are recognised as the leading taxpayers in sectors such as telco, insurance, financial sector, and FMCG,” said Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of Standard Chartered Bangladesh.

“These profitable opportunities will only grow as the country continues its remarkable development trajectory,” he said. “We’ve witnessed Bangladesh evolving rapidly to become a force to be reckoned with — it is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world – and Malaysia is the 9th largest investor in Bangladesh,” said Abrar A Anwar, managing director and CEO of Standard Chartered Malaysia.

“A free trade agreement…would be immensely beneficial,” he said.

Datuk Md Nor bin Ali, chief investment officer of Edra Energy; Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, CEO of Robi Axiata; and Rupali Chowdhury, president of the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry, also spoke at the programme.