Despite receiving growing interest, Bangladesh cannot attract Chinese outbound investment in a large volume due to multi-pronged hurdles, a key official of the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka told a panel discussion on Thursday night.
According to him, various problems such as infrastructure deficiency, high cost of logistics services, administrative bottlenecks, complexities in getting work permit on time, and inefficient functioning of one-stop service etc. are discouraging a large number of Chinese companies from investing in Bangladesh.
While speaking at the discussion, Li Guangjun, economic and commercial counsellor of the Chinese Embassy, also said at present, Chinese investment in Bangladesh is quite meagre in terms of overall volume of its outbound investment.
"Of course, there are many reasons … investment and trade is like air and water that flows to where there is attraction," he said.
Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) organised the panel discussion 'EBL Enclave 2018: A new era in China-Bangladesh Strategic Partnership' where the bank disclosed expanding its operations to southern Chinese city of Guangzhou by this year to facilitate trade and investment.
Mr. Li said he heard about quick operation of one-stop service when he joined the embassy in Dhaka two and a half years ago, but it is not yet fully functional, although ensuring such fast service is a must to attract investment.
"Chinese people often face complexities here in getting work permit on time, which also affects their daily operations and confidence."
Mr. Li, in his speech, also termed Bangladesh a key strategic partner of China in the context of its flagship move, the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative).
He suggested three things in this regard - FTA (free trade agreement) between the countries, synergize five-year plans of both countries, and heightened cooperation -- to increase industrial capacity to take the bilateral relations to a new era.
Moderating the discussion, distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Professor Mustafizur Rahman termed the relationship between China and Bangladesh critically important, as the socialist state has heavily invested on infrastructure development in the country.
"So, the bottlenecks will be resolved, as China is getting involved in port development and road transport investment. We hope China will engage itself in addressing the problems facing the Chinese investors," he added.
Talking about the role of financial institutions for enhancing bilateral ties in terms of trade and investment, EBL managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Ali Reza Iftekhar said they have given very importance to the Chinese investors by ensuring that Chinese-speaking professionals will deal with them.
Not only that, Chinese businessman can open LCs (letters of credit) through RMB (Chinese currency), and the bank has developed a module to finance local vendors, on whom the overseas investors often rely to implement projects, he also said.
"You will be happy to know that EBL will expand its office to Guangzhou by this year," the EBL MD informed.
Former president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Mir Nasir Hossain said China is focusing more on high-tech industries, and shifting its obsolete industries to various parts across the world.
"China can import manufactured products from Bangladesh, taking various advantages here like cheap labour."
He also suggested the Chinese investors to come and invest in IT (information technology) sector, from where Bangladesh has planned to earn $10 billion by 2030.
Director general (East Asia & Pacific Wing) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Faisal Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.
China is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, and the volume of bilateral trade stood at $16 billion in the financial year 2016-17. But the trade was heavily tilted in favour of China ($15 billion), which has been a concern for Bangladesh.
