Malaysia keen to invest in incredible growth story of Bangladesh

Industry Desk: Public and private sector leaders of Malaysia expressed their keenness to invest in the incredible growth story of Bangladesh.
They expressed their keenness while public and private sector leaders of Bangladesh and Malaysia discussed the special relationship between the two nations, and the opportunities to leverage the socioeconomic complementarities that exist, at a virtual event held recently.
The event, titled “Showcase Bangladesh 2021: Bangladesh-Malaysia Investment Summit”, is a platform jointly organised by Standard Chartered and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), said a press release.
The virtual forum showcased the partnership potential between Bangladesh and Malaysia and highlighted the emerging strategic opportunities in a shifting global landscape. Delegates representing public and private sectors, policymakers, investors, bankers and the diplomatic communities of both nations were in attendance.
Tipu Munshi, Minister for Commerce, attended the event as chief guest, while Salman Fazlur Rahman, Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister, was present as guest of honour.
Md Sirazul Islam, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, delivered the keynote speech.
Md Golam Sarwar, High Commissioner of People’s Republic of Bangladesh to Malaysia; Haznah Md Hashim, High Commissioner of Malaysia to People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Datuk Md Nor bin Ali, Chief Investment Officer, Edra Energy; Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Robi Axiata; Rupali Chowdhury, President, Foreign Investors
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Naser Ezaz Bijoy, Chief Executive Officer Bangladesh and Abrar A Anwar, Chief Executive Officer Malaysia, represented Standard Chartered, along with Mak Joon Nien, MD and Head of Client Coverage, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking Malaysia and Enamul Huque, MD and Head of Client Coverage, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking Bangladesh were present at the event.

Tipu Munshi said, “Relationship between Malaysia and Bangladesh are characterized by a number of complementarities. It is time to take advantage of these complementarities and begin our respective journeys to become high income economies. I believe this summit will help cement this bilateral relationship to greater heights.”

Salman Fazlur Rahman said, “Malaysia and Bangladesh have historically had extremely good relationships and I believe any kind of cooperation between the two countries is a win-win situation for both countries. As we ascend to the next level, we realise the need to pick up the pace. An important part of this process is digitalization. There are also a huge amount of legal reforms taking place which will aid the ease of business and help further improve bilateral relations.”

Mohammad Sirazul Islam said, “The relationship between our two nations is based on the spirit of long-term friendship. Malaysia has been one of the first to recognise our country from the beginning.” He added, “Bangladesh has bilateral and international treaties which we have signed with Malaysia and both governments are actively considering FTAs which will definitely boost bilateral trade between the nations. We look forward to facilitating the entry and growth of more Malaysian businesses in Bangladesh.”

Naser Ezaz Bijoy 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. These profitable opportunities will only grow as the country continues its remarkable development trajectory. As both Bangladesh and Malaysia progress towards a common goal of becoming high-income countries, there are a host of shared opportunities that are yet to be explored, in order to realise the full potential of the collaboration between our two economies. The purpose of today’s summit is to accelerate the joint efforts to identify complementarities in various sectors, and to establish continuous engagement between relevant stakeholders to leverage these opportunities.”

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