Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will get a major boost over the next few years as a good number of Chinese investors are strongly considering relocation of their industries to Bangladesh.
A 35-member delegation from the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu, is coming to Bangladesh on June 25 to see the opportunities and benefit of the relocation of their enterprises, said President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abdul Matlub Ahmad.
Talking to BSS on Wednesday on his way back from Kunming to Dhaka after attending two major trade and investment events in China, the FBCCI president said southwestern China's province is now encouraging their investors to relocate their industries.
Ahmed led a 32-memebr FBCCI delegate to the 3rd China-South Asia (CSA) Expo in Kunming and a conference on infrastructure and renovation in Chengdu. FBCCI president chaired the Chengdu conference.
"The Chinese investors at the conference told us that the recent economic stability and progress in Bangladesh attracted them to relocate their business there", said the FBCCI chief.
Besides, he said, they found that the labour market in Bangladesh is still cheaper than in Chengdu. "Average wage in Chengdu is three times higher than Bangladesh".
The FBCCI also signed another memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a private investment promoter in Chengdu to promote Chinese investment in Bangladesh, Ahmed said, adding, "The organisation, which works like our BoI (Board of Investment), is expected to bring one company to Bangladesh in two months and four companies in five months and will arrange visit of a big business delegation to Dhaka in three months.
The prime target of the investment promotion would be encouraging Chinese entrepreneurs to relocate their enterprises to the FBCCI's planned investment zones in 64 districts where 1600 industrial units would be developed over the next few years.
Ahmed said Chinese investors would have the major portions of the industrial units where they would produce various goods for exporting those to the global market.
"There had also been a preliminary talks with some power companies in Chengdu when they expressed their keen interest in renovating power plants in Bangladesh", the FBCCI president said.
He said the companies developed technology and knowhow to renovate old power plants to produce more electricity by using less water and gas. "They would invest in replacing machineries in our power plants so we could produce more power with less water or gas, this would also inject huge amount of FDI to the country".
Already, a Chinese bus company signed a MoU with a Bangladeshi company to make modern bus-body and related stuff for Bangladesh and China, Ahmed said, pointing out that besides getting Chinese investment, the country would get standard bus bodies once the production begins.    ?BSS