The government should find out the reasons for failure to attract foreign direct investment at expected level despite having all the potentials and favourable investment regime in the country, foreign investors and experts said on Wednesday. At a roundtable discussion on FDI at BRAC Centre Inn in the capital Dhaka, they also said that the government should ensure consistency in policy matters and reflection of the rules and regulations into reality as well as simplification of procedures related to the FDI. They also emphasised on strengthening the Board of Investment and ensuring coordination among the government agencies to facilitate the FDI. The Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Citycell jointly organised the discussion meeting to find out the challenges and way forward to attract more investment in the country. New Age, Samakal and Channel I were the media partners of the event. ‘The government should find out the reasons why new foreign investors are not making investment at expected level in the country whereas existing foreign investors are doing profit and making reinvestment in the country,’ FICCI president Rupali Chowdhury said. FICCI members have been making many recommendations to the government but do not see much improvement in these regards for attracting FDI, she said. Efficient bureaucracy, simplification in procedures for FDI registration, improvement in legal infrastructure as well as acceleration in one-stop service provided by the Board of Investment are needed for attracting FDI at expected level, Rupali said. Foreign investors are also concerned about inconsistency in the government’s policy, she said adding that government’s agreement with foreign investors should be watertight and it should not be changed along with the changes of governments. Referring to the government’s policy on Korean Export Processing Zone in Chittagong, Rupali said retreating from such agreement gave wrong signal to the foreign investors. International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman said the government should find out the reasons why the foreign investors were not coming in the country despite having all favourable regulatory regimes. The BoI was established to provide one-stop service for the prospective foreign investors so that they need not to go other places to start business in Bangladesh, he said. ‘But that never happened as the BoI did not move even one inch forward from the mindset of the then Department of Industries,’ Mahbub said. Now, the number one obstacle in attracting FDI in Bangladesh is the BoI, he said. Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president Farooq Sobhan said a strong partnership between the government and private sector was needed to solve the problems being faced by the foreign investors for creating better business environment to attract more FDI. Emphasising on strengthening the BoI, he said, ‘The board has remained a baby even after its birth 30 years ago.’ Continuation in policy regime is needed to boost confidence of foreign investors, Farooq said. Bangladesh Bank deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury said that the central bank was reviewing the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act to further liberalise the foreign exchange regime for attracting more FDI. Bangladesh cannot attract the FDI at expected level probably due to lack of investors’ confidence, congenial environment, unavailability of land, institutional weakness, corruption and some other ‘unknown reasons’, he said. Mobile operator Robi Axiata Limited’s chief executive officer Supun Weerasinghe said confidence, competitive cost of doing business and collaboration between the government and investors were needed to attract the FDI. For investors in telecom sector, taxation is the key challenges as they have to pay more than 50 per cent of their revenue to the government as tax, he said. Dhaka University’s economics department professor MA Taslim said that the government should work to reduce the gap between the prospect and actual investment. ‘FDI policy probably is most favourable in the country but investors are not flocking here,’ he said. Santos Sangu Field country lead Mahmudul Karim said that government’s fiscal regime should be commercially viable for the investors in energy and oil sectors. Neighbouring Myanmar has managed to attract at least 18 foreign investors in oil sector in the Bay of Bengal but only four investors have come in Bangladesh, he said, adding that the government needed to examine the reasons. G4S Secure Solutions Bangladesh Ltd managing director Selim A Chowdhury said that rules and regulations were fine in papers in the country but absence were proper implementations of those laws and appropriate actions to solve the problems. Centre for Policy Dialogue additional research director Khondaker Golam Moazzem said that the investment proposals registered with the BoI were not being materialised due to lack of infrastructure and supply chain. Citycell chief executive officer Mehboob Chowdhury, Citibank NA managing director Rashed Maqsood, British American Tobacco Bangladesh Ltd managing director Shehzad Munim, Lungla Tea chief executive officer Imran Ahmed, Maersk Bangladesh managing director Shamim Ul Huq, HSBC Bangladesh chief executive officer Francois De Maricourt, Novartis managing director Sheikh Nahar Mahmud, UAE-Bangladesh Investment Company Ltd managing director SM Akbar, Reed Consulting Ltd managing director Rooney J Reed, BoI executive member Nabhash Chandra Mandol, National Board of Revenue member Parvez Iqbal, commerce ministry additional secretary Monoj Kumar Roy and Industries ministry additional secretary Parag, among others, attended the meeting.
