Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu sought Chinese investment in the priority sectors so the country could have a win-win situation in bilateral economic relations with China, reports BSS. The minister put the proposal at high-level and bilateral meetings with Chinese officials Monday in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province. The industries minister, while addressing the meeting of the International Production Capacity Cooperation Forum at Kunming Intercontinental Hotel also named some projects where China could invest. The National Development Reform Commission (NDRC) organised the meetings on the sidelines of the 4th China-South Asia Expo 2016. The six-day annual flagship trade fair began here on Sunday. The main issue of the forum’s meeting was the consideration of building mechanism for bilateral cooperation on production capacity. At the bilateral meeting with NDRC Chairman Ning Jizhe, Amu said that Bangladesh is now ready to offer foreign investors necessary support, including land, power and lucrative investment incentives. He also told the meeting that Chinese entrepreneurs could make investment in the sectors identified as “high priority sectors” and “priority sectors” by the government. Among the high priority sectors are: agro-processing and agricultural tools and machinery industries, RMG industries, ICT/software industries, pharmaceutical industries, leather and leather goods industries, light engineering industries and jute and jute products industries. The priority sectors include plastic industries, shipbuilding industries, environmentally sound ship recycling industries, active pharmaceuticals, auto mobiles, energy efficient electric goods and cement industries. Besides, Amu said that China would make investment in installation of a UF-85 (Urea Formaldehyde-85) plant at Natural Gas Fertilizer Factory and a new di-ammonium phosphate factory in Rangadia, Chittagong. He also proposed that China could install three paper mills on the existing premises of the paper mills in Khulna, Rangamati and Pabna and an effluent treatment plant (ETP) in Karnaphuli Paper Mills Ltd (KPML). The industries minister told the meetings that China could set up a clinker factory on the premises of Takerghat Limestone Mining Project (LTMP), Tahirpur, Sunamganj and a new leather factory in the existing Dhaka Leather Co. Savar, Dhaka. Amu said the other areas where China could invest are insulator and sanitary ware, integrated biogas, bio-fertilizer and bakers’ yeast plant, sugar refinery and agriculture machinery and tools factory. He said Bangladesh and China could also cooperate in the setting up of joint venture with technology transfer and training of skilled workers in high-end product producing industries in textile and leather sectors, which would in turn lead to higher production capacity. “Because of huge wage hikes of Chinese workers and scarcity of labourers in the labor-intensive manufacturing sector, Chinese enterprises can hire low-skilled and semi-skilled manpower from Bangladesh. In addition, China can also relocate their labor-intensive industries to Bangladesh,” he said. Amu is now visiting China at the invitation of NDRC, which formulates and implements strategies of national economic and social development and carry out research and analysis on domestic and international economic situation. The minister will return home tomorrow after attending a bilateral meeting with Governor of Yunnan Chen Hao. At the meeting, they will have further discussions on the proposals made at different levels for mutual benefits.
