News: Bangladesh gives itself hard sell to U.S. business

[Mohammed Hasanuz Zaman]

DHAKA, Feb 27 (Reuter) - Bangladesh Industry Minister Tofael
Ahmed gave his poverty-stricken country the hard sell on
Thursday and said it needed increased U.S. investment to stem
soaring unemployment and spur economic growth.
His appeal came after the president of the American Chamber
of Commerce in Bangladesh described U.S. investment in the
country as insignificant and unlikely to be drawn outside the
natural resources sector.
"Bangladesh's priority is to achieve a higher rate of
investment. We have taken steps to attract investment, without
which the unemployment problem will not be solved and economic
growth will not be boosted," he said at the opening of a U.S.
trade show in Dhaka.
Ahmed said he hoped the newly formed American Chamber of
Commerce would help ensure U.S. investors plump for Bangladesh
when staking their money abroad.
"An excellent atmosphere exists for investment in Bangladesh
where there is religious harmony and no ethnic problem," he
said, adding that it was allowing the tax free import of capital
machinery, tax holidays and repatriation of capital and profit.
He said a number of foreign oil companies, including British
Cairn Energy Plc and Occidental Petroleum Corp of the United
States, had signed production sharing contracts with Bangladesh
for exploration of natural gas.
Bangladesh's exports to the United States amounted to $1.2
billion annually. "The United States is contributing much to our
economy," he said.
But American investment is not likely to flow in that
easily. U.S. investors so far have only targeted the country's
potential gas and power sector, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
"I don't think we can expect U.S. investment in sectors
other than natural resources," Forrest Cookson, president of the
American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh, told a news
conference ahead of Thursday's trade show.
Some 160 American firms are participating in the sixth trade
show with products ranging from cosmetics to computer software.
Cookson said U.S. investment in Bangladesh is insignificant.
"There has not been an increase in American investment..."
He added that American apathy was mainly because of
Bangladesh's small domestic market. "The domestic market...has
not grown enough to attract American investors," he said.
Tim Forsyth, an economic and commercial officer with the
American Embassy in Dhaka, said he expected U.S. investment to
come into Bangladesh's power and telecom sectors.
"There is good possibility of U.S. investment in power
plants when the level of investment may double or treble. The
U.S. firms are also interested in the telecom sector. We expect
U.S. companies will be winning some bids," he said.
U.S. investment in Bangladesh is small now but could reach
$200 million after Halliburton Co and Occidental sign contracts
for gas exploration and distribution, he said.
Forsyth added that foreign investors would also like to be
assured of continued political stability.

[Md. Fazle Baki]

In article <5f9dsn$lql$1...@news.eecs.umich.edu> mha...@dip.eecs.umich.edu (Mohammed Hasanuz Zaman) writes:
>From: mha...@dip.eecs.umich.edu (Mohammed Hasanuz Zaman)
>Subject: News: Bangladesh gives itself hard sell to U.S. business
>Date: 1 Mar 1997 14:19:03 GMT

> DHAKA, Feb 27 (Reuter) - Bangladesh Industry Minister Tofael
>Ahmed

said

> "An excellent atmosphere exists for investment in Bangladesh
>where there is religious harmony and no ethnic problem,"

Years after years after years there were debates in SCBd on existence of
religious harmony in Bangladesh. I am happy to see Mr. Tofael Ahmed in
favour.

Md. Fazle Baki
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Md. Fazle Baki
Dept of Management Sciences
University of Waterloo, Canada
519-885-1212 Ext. 3820