Bangladesh - Italy work as a developing business partner

Bangladesh and Italy enjoys an excellent traditional friendship on the basis of shared values of independence, peace, cooperation and development and shares strong relationships with much scope for deepening of cooperation and relations in the future.

Italy, a reliable, committed and tested friend of Bangladesh and work as a developing business partner, recognized Bangladesh after independence on 12th February 1972. In 1974, Italy was one of the countries that sponsored the admission of Bangladesh to the United Nations. Both countries have been experiencing long lasting bilateral ties since then. Based on core mutual values of democracy, sustenance, self- esteem, freedom and pluralism, bilateral relationships are mainly focused on development cooperation including trade and investment, regional security, connectivity and mass people to people contract. To maximize the benefit in terms of foster economic growth and poverty reduction, Bangladesh and Italy will more need to strengthen economic and social cooperation in several areas particularly in business and development.

Bangladesh and Italy are two faithful, helpful and mutually benefited countries and this relationship has contributed in socioeconomic development, culture, education infrastructure, logistic support, know-how, knowledge transfer, migration, trade, human resource exchange, capacity building of the institutions and in many areas. Both the countries people are friendly, hospitable generous, intelligent, good-humored, gentle, well dressed, tasteful,   and family oriented.

 As an example, between the two countries in 2000, an agreement on "Scientific and Technological Cooperation" was signed between Bangladesh and Italy. As per the agreement, the two countries have been exchanging scientists, researchers and technicians as well as providing study grants. Italy has been accommodating an average of 25 Bangladeshi researchers annually to study at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physic.

Now, the trade relationship between Bangladesh and Italy has grown dramatically over the last decades. The value of bilateral trade has increased. In the year 2019 Bangladesh imports from Italy were worth to US$875.88 million and Bangladesh 's annul export to Italy in the past fiscal year stood at US$ 1462.95 million. The statistics point to the fact that the volume Bangladesh -Italy bilateral trade stood at  near about US$ 2338.83 million at the first time and aims to  achieve US$ 3.5 billion  by 2021,  Bangladesh's main export items to Italy include frozen food, agro-products, tea, leather, raw jute, jute goods, knitwear, woven garments etc. Italy's chief export items to Bangladesh include machineries, electronic products, vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipments, Textiles clothes, etc.

Bangladesh has immense potentials to set up heavy industries like textile, clothes and modern composite leather industries owning to availability of better infrastructure, cheaper utility prices and attractive tax incentives. In this connection, Italian giant textile and leather industrial enterprises may set up global standard industries including training centres for textile, leather and other technologies in Bangladesh to compete in the world market. It is noted that, Bangladesh is enjoying tariff-free access to Italian market under the European Unions' (EU) Generalized System of Preference scheme which is  also known as  Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme.

The commercial relations between Bangladesh and Italy are also growing progressively, and the number of Italian companies realizing the business opportunities in Bangladesh which is increasing every year. So far, a significant numbers of Italian companies have been established in Bangladesh under the different Business2Business, government and other programs. Several Italian companies, especially in the textile sector have operations in Bangladesh and the Government hopes that bilateral business ties can be effective and intensified.

After UK, Italy has the second largest Bangladeshi community in Europe and its residents counting up to 140000.  The Italian Government always acknowledged the positive contribution that the Bangladeshi Diaspora makes to the Italian economy and society as a whole.

Italy hosts a large Bangladeshi immigrant community who send significant amounts of remittance to Bangladesh. Remittance from Italy is growing at a faster rate. The Economic Wing of Bangladesh Embassy in Italy takes initiative to motivate expatriate community in Italy to use the formal channels of banks/Exchange Companies to remit foreign exchange to Bangladesh.  The country bagged US$ 757.88 million  from Italy, the ninth largest amount of such money among 30 nations in fiscal year(FY)2018-2019) according to Central Bank. State run commercial banks and dozens of private commercial banks of Bangladesh have stepped up their efforts to increase remittance flow from Italy through establishing drawing arrangements with overseas companies.

Bangladesh has been witnessing over 6. 5 per cent GDP growth rate consistently for almost over the last one decade and estimated to achieve 8.15 percent in FY 2019-20. This presents a considerable opportunity for foreign investment. If Italian investors are informed about the affable business environment that prevails in Bangladesh and then they would be interested in different profitable sectors in Bangladesh.

Italian investor can invest here as the government of Bangladesh is setting up 100 special economic zones (SEZs) in different parts of the country by offering a wide range of incentives for foreign investors including 100 percent equity share in particular. However, Bangladesh still enjoys duty-free market access to 52 countries including the European Union. Italy is a part of them, therefore; there is an enormous prospect for Italian investors to invest in Bangladesh. The potential investment sectors for Italian investors are food and agro processing, textile, petroleum, IT, energy and power--including renewable energy, light engineering, leather, ocean-based initiatives, shipbuilding, services and tourism sectors. Moreover, Bangladesh would like to concentrate on its ocean-based development initiatives; it would also be an investment opportunity for them.

Moreover, to accrue greater benefits of trade for both Bangladesh and Italy, we have to establish common accreditation board for acceptance of standards of Bangladeshi products. For facilitating trade, investment and communication, direct air service from Dhaka to Milan need to be launched.   Participating in trade fairs and attending different discourses are also important for enhancing trade and investment. In this case, visa procedure needs to be simplified for business people.

It can be mentioned that the geographic location that Bangladesh holds is perfect for global trade with a very suitable access to sea and air routes. Likewise, the competitive advantage of the labour force of Bangladesh in South Asian regional standards may also stimulate the foreign investment. After all, the outstanding friendship that prevails between the two countries helps Italian inventors to expand their businesses in Bangladesh and Italy may take all these advantages by investing here in large scale.

The writer is a senior banker