180-day action plan unveiled to boost investment environment in BD

To make the investment environment in the country easier, more effective, and dynamic, a 180-day action plan has been jointly formulated by four major agencies, comprising 25 initiatives. 

The agencies are the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA), and Bangladesh Industrial Development Authority (MIDA). The action plan was presented to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in a meeting on Sunday by the Executive Chairmen of BIDA, BEZA, and MIDA, along with PPPA Chief Executive Officer Ashiq Chowdhury.

BIDA Public Relations Officer Prashant Kumar Mandal gave this information on Monday.

BIDA said that the 180-day action plan has been prepared based on three main pillars. Out of the total 25 initiatives, 13 are for strengthening infrastructure, seven for strengthening investment support and five for investment development.

This sector includes advancing port modernization, implementing Chinese economic zones, expanding 'ready-to-use' plots in industrial parks, establishing free trade zones and defense economic zones, revitalizing state-owned enterprises through PPP, foreign investment and conversion into economic zones, and implementing various initiatives in the energy sector.

This includes emphasizing institutional reforms and improving services to investors. This includes implementing initiatives to merge the five investment promotion agencies - BIDA, BEZA, BEPZA, Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority and PPPA, completing activities towards the Bangladesh-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and forming a private sector advisory council under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

Also, there are plans to strengthen coordination between ministries, increase the use of a single investment service platform called 'BanglaBiz', provide targeted solutions to the problems of large strategic investors, and launch BIDA's first overseas office in China.

This includes mapping the country's industrial sector, taking initiatives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in specific sectors from priority countries, developing deep-sea fishing, mariculture and export-oriented shrimp processing industries as part of blue economy development, and launching new FDI incentive programs.

The implementation of these 25 initiatives aims to further energize the investment environment in Bangladesh by developing infrastructure, strengthening investment support, and creating a strong pipeline of future investments.

Bida Executive Chairman Ashiq Chowdhury said, "The main goal of our plan is to build an investment-driven economy, create rapid employment and increase the flow of domestic and foreign investment into Bangladesh through implementation-oriented reforms."

He added, "In the context of the current global uncertainty, our priority is to help local investors invest and move it forward at a faster pace. We will also support foreign investors, but our main focus will be to encourage domestic investors to invest more and help those who are already doing business in Bangladesh to expand their operations."