Exploiting_Potentials_of_Bangladesh

Archive news of Thursday October 15 2009 Exploiting the potentials of Bangladesh S. D. Chowdhury FOR its failure to take timely initiative, Bangladesh could not yet become a lucrative investment destination, despite the potentials it has. Chittagong port can contribute immensely for the country to be an ideal global trade and production hub. The port can serve eight landlocked north-eastern states of India, Nepal and Bhutan, besides the vast regions of Myanmar and China. Those countries have shown interest in using Chittagong Port for their international trade. Bangladesh can be the bridgehead for trade between the vibrant economic blocks of SAARC and ASEAN. From Chittagong, the vast market of the entire region, the abode of about one third population of the world, can be served. The proposed Trans Asian Highway and Railway are also expected to provide better connectivity for boosting trader. So, in future, Bangladesh can expect to have better international connectivity by sea, air, rail and road. This is likely to increase the potentials of trade and business development for Bangladesh. Apart from this geographic advantage, Bangladesh can utilise its natural gas and quality coal reserves for its rapid industrialisation. Bangladesh's easily trainable abundant workforce also provides it a competitive advantage to its develop trade and industry. Moreover, the duty- and quota-free market access given by European Union (EU), Norway, Canada, Australia, Japan and New Zealand and concessional market access provided by many other developed and advanced developing together with its inherent competitive edges, have otherwise bolstered the potentials of Bangladesh to become a lucrative centre for investments. To cope with the evolving global economic and trade trends, Bangladesh, has been pursuing a private sector-led export-oriented growth strategy. It has substantially restructured its exports, imports, banking, administration and the laws to suit free market economy. It took often measures, too, to cater to the needs of trade and business. The government has taken other programmes to encourage investment, both domestic as well as foreign. Encouraged by its lucrative incentives, foreign investors are likely to be more interested now than before to invest in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is, thus, poised to emerge as an attractive trade and investment destination for the entrepreneurs. Now it is for the country's policy makers to rapidly harness the potentials of industrialisation. In Bangladesh, the potential sectors are petrochemicals, oil refineries, pulp and paper, tourism and amusement, cement clinker, ship building and repair, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and ancillary industry, electrical and electronic industry, light engineering, leather and jute, melamine and ceramic, power generation, water treatment, deep draft port, telecommunication, composite textile, garments backward linkage, timber and agro processing. All these and other potentially viable industries can enable Bangladesh to cater to its vast domestic as well as foreign markets. Bangladesh needs policy support and a forward-looking vision to exploit its potentials. But a lack of vision on part of the successive governments led to under-exploitation of the potentials.