Speakers at a webinar on Monday said Bangladesh to become a regional transit and investment hub focusing on the Chinese, Indian and ASEAN markets in order to gain from the fortune of being neighbour of such big markets.
They also said it should also promote BBIN initiative to promote connectivity and immediately ratify the TIR convention. At the same time steps should be taken for trade facilitation and reduction of customs tariffs and supplementary duties etc. Bangladesh can take the benefits of TIR convention only with internal reforms and readiness to serve the region as trading hub such as the Netherlands, Singapore or Dubai.
International Business Forum of Bngladesh (IBFB) and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) jointly organized the webinar titled on “Ease of doing business: status of 2021”.
Md. Sirazul Islam, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) was present at the webinar as Guest of Honor.
Jibon Krishna Saha Roy, Director (One Stop Service and Regulatory Reform), BIDA presented the key note paper at the webinar while Ambassador M Humayun Kabir, President, BEI delivered the welcome remarks in the webinar.
M.S. Siddiqui, Legal Economist & Vice President, IBFB, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Former Secretary and Ex- Chairman, NBR & Chairman, Finance Committee, IBFB and Dr. A.F.M. Matiur Rahman, Former Secretary & Vice-Chairman, Industry Leadership Committee, IBFB spoke as Designated Discussants. Among others Lt. Gen M. Harun-Ar-Rashid, Bir Protik (Retd.), Director, IBFB, Rear Admiral M Shahjahan, Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority and Major General Md Nazrul Islam, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) spoke as discussants. Humayun Rashid, President, IBFB & Managing Director & CEO, Energypac Power Generation Ltd. was the Chairperson of the webinar.
They said Doing Business report is not intended as a complete assessment of competitiveness or of the business environment of a country and should rather be considered as a proxy of the regulatory framework faced by the private sector in a country.
Speakers opined that in Bangladesh credit is believe to be capital machinery finance and loan given against collaterals. In this globalized world, trade finance (TF) is an essential tool to enable the trade of goods, and increasingly services, allowing local firms and value chains to sell into global markets.