Bangladesh will offer Australian entrepreneurs to invest in special economic zones (SEZs) during the Australia-Bangladesh Business Forum (ABBF)-2016 in Melbourne to be held next month, officials said. Increased engagement with industry and policy makers of the two countries and exploring bilateral trade and investment opportunities will also prominently figure in the forum’s discussion. The two-day ABBF will start on September 7, helping harness innovation and entrepreneurship. The Monash Business School’s Centre for Global Business is hosting the event where a high powered Bangladesh delegation will attend. The forum will also help understand the current trade and investment trends, challenges and opportunities between Australia and Bangladesh. Monash University and the government of Bangladesh have a long-established relationship. Academic training, joint capacity-development projects and collaborative research programmes have enabled closer cooperation between the university and stakeholders who support Bangladesh in achieving its development aspirations. “The two-day event has the objectives that include strengthening bilateral business relations between Australia and Bangladesh by promoting the sharing of knowledge, technology and capital,” senior secretary of the ministry of commerce (MoC) Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told the FE. Bangladesh exports ready-made garment (RMG), jute and jute goods, home textiles and footwear and imports cotton and cotton yarn, electrical machinery, dairy products and edible vegetables from Australia. Until January of the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17, Bangladesh exported goods worth US $163million. The country exported goods worth US$ 460.93 million and imported $ 215.4 million from Australia during the fiscal year (FY) 2014-15.
