Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed exchanges views with the visiting leaders of Singapore Business Federation at a hotel in the capital on Wednesday.The government has principally agreed to provide 500 acres of land to help create a special economic zone (SEZ) for Singapore entrepreneurs to set up their businesses.The government took the decision in response to investment interests shown by a visiting business delegation from the south-east Asian nation.Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed disclosed the information on Wednesday while talking to reporters after his meeting with the business leaders of Singapore Business Federation at a city hotel.Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered the land to the Singapore investors when a Singapore Business Federation (SBF) delegation called on her at her parliament office. The business delegation is now in Dhaka on a seven-day visit. It arrived Dhaka on July 7 and will stay till July 13. “The Singaporian businessmen have taken interest in making large investment in special economic zone in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasin has given a preliminary consent to provide them with 500 acres of land,” Tofail told the journalists.If the investments from Singapore are found to be satisfactory, the amount of land might be increased by another 200 acres, he said quoting the PM.He informed that the Singaporian businessmen have shown interest in investing in power, housing and information technology sectors.The business delegation has already visited different areas of the country to explore business opportunities and exchanged views with the officials of different government agencies, Tofail said.The commerce minister thinks that the country has been able to crete an enabling environment for foreign investment with offering some special benefits like cent percent investment and the invested money withdrawal facilities. Bilateral trade between the two countries has now crossed $4 billion mark, while more than 150 Bangladeshi companies are working in Singapore, which means that bilateral relations between the two countries are improving as well, he said.“We’re extremely happy after meeting the commerce minister. We held meetings with the Bangladesh PM, BEZA and BIDA who all have encouraged us and we feel very much encouraged after the meetings,” commented Prasoon Mukherjee, vice-chairman of Singapore-India Chamber of Commercy and Industry and also deputy chief of the business delegation.“There are many investment opportunities in Bangladesh and Singaporian businessment have expressed their interest in investing in local power and housing sectors,” he added.Even being “conservative,” Singaporian businessmen are now showing interest about making investment in Bangladesh as a result of working with this government since 1996, he said.Tofail said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared that some 100 special economic zones will be set up across the country, of which one will be awarded to Singapore.Referring to the import of LNG and discovery of new gas field along with the work of installing nuclear power plant, the commerce minister assured the delegation of no crisis of power and gas for setting up industry in Bangladesh.Other members of the delegation included Bangladesh Business Chamber of Singapore president Md Shahiduzzaman, Singapore Business Federation assistant executive director Cody Lee, among others.
