South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-Keun held a meeting with Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Rizwan Rahman at the DCCI office in the city's Motijheel area on Thursday
The President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Rizwan Rahman made a call for South Korean investors to relocate their sunset industries to Bangladesh.
The sunset industry is referred to an industry that is in decline and has passed its peak or boom periods.
The DCCI President made the call during a meeting with the South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-Keun at the DCCI office in the city's Motijheel area.
Speaking at the programme, Mr Rahman said there had been a steady increase in bilateral trade between Bangladesh and South Korea which currently stands at approximately US$ 1.6 billion.
Of the total bilateral trade, Bangladesh's export to South Korea stood at only $ 398.66 million in FY2020-21 while cumulative stock of FDI (foreign direct investment) from South Korea to Bangladesh reached about $ 1.03 billion, he added.
He invited Korean investors to invest in leather and footwear, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, backward linkage of RMG, automotive and infrastructure, agro processing, power sector, and electronics sectors.
Mr Rahman also noted that the DCCI and the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka could work together for improving business climate before signing a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA).
Besides, he invited South Korean entrepreneurs to join the B2Bs under "Bangladesh Trade & Investment Summit" to be held from October 26 jointly organised by the Ministry of Commerce and DCCI.
Terming the trade relation between Bangladesh and Korea very close, Mr Jang-Keun said South Korea became the 5th largest source of FDI for Bangladesh and most of investments were from the manufacturing sector.
He said about 93 per cent of Bangladeshi products got duty and quota-free market access in South Korea.
About FTA, he said that South Korean already had FTAs with about 70 countries including China, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Europe.
In response to the comments of DCCI President, he said that after the graduation from the least developed country (LDC) club, Bangladesh could take an initiative for signing an FTA with South Korea.
However, there remained huge potential for South Korean investors to invest in pharmaceutical and ICT sectors in Bangladesh, he said.
For more export competitiveness, he also suggested better product diversification.
Besides, he termed B2B contact, exchange of both way delegations and chamber to chamber interaction very important to increase bilateral trade as well as narrowing the trade gap.
DCCI Senior Vice President NKA Mobin and Vice President Monowar Hossain were also present during the meeting.
