The government plans to organise an international investment summit in Dhaka next month with a view to showcasing private investment opportunities in key sectors and attracting fresh investments in Bangladesh. The Board of Investment (BoI) will organise the two-day summit titled Bangladesh Private Sector Policy and Investment Summit 2015 in the third week of December. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the summit at Sonargaon Hotel while Indian business magnate Mukesh Ambani, also Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, will attend the programme as the chief guest. “The forum will be a platform for regional and national investors to exchange ideas with a view to increasing intra-regional investment flows from South and East Asia. The platform is expected to attract new investments in key sectors,” said BOI Joint Secretary Tauhidur Rahman. The summit is expected to highlight improvement of investment climate in the country and highlight specific investment opportunities in the agribusiness sector, as well as in economic zones. The business-to-business (B2B) meeting will see interactions between local and foreign investors. Representatives from relevant public authorities, international development organisations, investment promotion agencies, foreign diplomatic missions, and international experts, local and foreign investors will attend the summit. On the first day, the summit will showcase private sector investment opportunities in key sectors and demonstrate opportunities for potential value addition for sustainable economic growth. The sectors which will be highlighted in the summit will include competitive manufacturing and light engineering, transport and trade logistics, infrastructure policies and power and energy. On the second day, the summit will mainly focus policy issues and highlight FDI, industrial and international trade policies and the latest policy developments for private sector growth in Bangladesh. Alternative investment policy, taxation and investment incentives will also be discussed on the second day. According to BoI, there will two special sessions on China and Japanese investments. BoI expects about 800 local and foreign participants from more than two dozens of countries including the UK, Japan, China, India, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Kuwait and Qatar. Some 600 local and foreign investors from about 21 countries had attended the International Investment Forum-2014. The BoI will organise the summit in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD).
