Commerce Minister invites Indian businessmen to explore investment opportunities in Bangladesh
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: Tipu Munshi, Minister of Commerce of Bangladesh, has invited the Indian business leaders to come and invest in Bangladesh. With the geo-political advantage that Bangladesh has, there are various sectors and products with huge opportunities including ceramic and glass products. “We should work together to take our relationship to newer heights,” he added.
Addressing an interactive session ‘New Horizons in India-Bangladesh Economic Relations’ organized by FICCI here on Tuesday, Munshi stated that there is a need to further improve the connectivity to facilitate trade. Bangladesh has very progressive and industry friendly policies. “We both should work together for mutual benefit. Business can really take us to a level where everybody can see a better life both in India and Bangladesh,” he asserted.
Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh highlighted the investment potential in Bangladesh and stated, “Garments has been our dominant sector and going further, as part of our next level of growth, we are looking at export diversification.”
Rahman said that agriculture has been one of the many success stories of Bangladesh and in today’s world after the pandemic, food security has been critical for every country. “We want to further capitalize on our manufacturing capabilities along with agro processing business in Bangladesh,” he added.
Rahman while inviting the Indian industry to come and invest in Bangladesh said that the industry should also look at improving the markets in the North-eastern region in India. “When you (industry) look at the Bangladesh market, don’t just look at this market but combine it with the North-east market. Both, Bangladesh and the North-east market offer good transit facilities including road, railway and waterways and it will be a win-win for both Bangladeshi and Indian businesses,” he added.
Mohammed Jashim Uddin, President, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that enhanced trade co-operation between India-Bangladesh can be critical in developing a stronger relationship between the businessmen of the two countries.
Manoj Chug, Chair, FICCI South Asia Regional Council and President- Group Public Affairs and Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, said that Bangladesh is incredibly important to us and all Indian businesses in Bangladesh are looking at accelerating the pace of doing business.
Arun Chawla, Director General, FICCI said that India and Bangladesh are uniquely positioned to tap unexplored potential in every aspect of the economy. “The visit of PM of Bangladesh will open a new window of cooperation between India and Bangladesh,” he added. /BI/
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
