Bangladesh despite having a lot of potential is struggling to attract massive and new foreign direct investments from the European Union due to growing militancy and political uncertainty, a top EU diplomat said yesterday.The EU members are convinced that Bangladesh is a land of opportunities for foreign companies as the country has been maintaining gross domestic product growth of at least 6 percent over the years, said Pierre Mayaudon, ambassador of the EU in Bangladesh.Bangladesh has also performed well in the Millennium Development Goals.“It is not by chance that Goldman Sachs has listed Bangladesh among the so-called “Next Eleven” most promising economies of the 21st century.”Mayaudon’s comments came at the first EU-Bangladesh Business Council meeting, which was held at the commerce ministry in Dhaka. The EU-Bangladesh Business Council is a platform for discussion by the government officials and private sector entrepreneurs of both sides with the view to resolving any trade-related disputes.Bangladesh has many assets for attracting foreign investment and yet money is not flowing into the country in a big way, he said at the meeting where diplomats and leaders of the joint chambers between Bangladesh and the EU were present.The figures do not always reflect this reality due to some reinvestments by foreign companies already based in Bangladesh. “But genuine new FDI falls short of expectations — why such a paradox?”“Of course the uncertainties of the political context are often put forward to explain this stagnation, together with the growing militancy that now translates into multiple savage and still unexplained and unpunished assassinations, including that of foreigners.”Shortage of energy and limited infrastructure are also frequently mentioned to explain why foreign investors think twice before coming to Bangladesh, he said. Besides, Europe’s private investors have been facing numerous legal, technical or just practical obstacles in expansion of business in Bangladesh, he said.“We approach this discussion with a constructive spirit, looking for explanations, clarifications, and whenever relevant, possible solutions,” he added.In response, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the Bangladesh government is investing heavily in large-scale infrastructure development and energy projects.The minister went on to invite the European entrepreneurs to invest in the 100 special economic zones that the government has been developing across the country.“I urge our friends in the EU Business Council to assess the various incentives offered to foreign investors in Bangladesh,” he added.The council discussed five specific business agenda in its first meeting.The five agenda are: import restriction on pharmaceuticals products and WTO compliance, import duty and trade facilitation, licences and investment in service sector, financial flows, tax regime and special economic zone issues.Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior secretary to the commerce ministry, led the Bangladesh team to the meeting, while ambassadors from the UK, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain also spoke.The EU is the largest and the most important trading partner for Bangladesh.In fiscal 2014-15, Bangladesh’s exports to the EU stood at $17.04 billion, of which 90 percent were garment items, according to data from the commerce ministry.About 60 percent of Bangladesh’s garment exports are destined for the EU, and total exports to the region would have crossed the $20-billion mark last year had the euro not been devalued.Bangladesh, as a least-developed country, has been enjoying a zero-duty benefit to the EU since 1971 under the EU’s “everything but arms” scheme.
