The country, with its growth trajectory ahead, needs huge investment in logistics to ensure its sustainable development, speakers at a programme on Sunday said.
Efficient logistics is also an important pre-requisite for export diversification and smooth supply chain across the country to achieve economic goals, they added.
They came up with the observations at a day-long discussion programme on 'Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Logistics' at a city hotel on Sunday.
The Nordic Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bangladesh (NCCI) organised the programme in association with the Nordic Embassies-Norwegian Embassy, The Royal Danish Embassy, Embassy of Sweden and Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi attended the opening session of the programme as the chief guest, while NCCI President Tahrin Aman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the HSBC Md Mahbub ur Rahman attended, among others.
Danish Ambassador Winnie Estrup Petersen, Norwegian Ambassador Espen Rikter-Svendsen, and Swedish Ambassador Alex Berg von Linde also attended the function.
In his speech, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said Bangladesh is a potential market of about 170 million people, of which 45 per cent have good purchasing power.
Highlighting a suitable investment climate, the minister said, "It is possible to produce goods at low cost in Bangladesh and easily export them to other countries."
Now the country needs investment in the infrastructure sector, he said adding that work was underway across the country to modernise the communication system.
NCCI President Tahrin Aman said the LDC graduation will bring about a new set of economic challenges and the support of Nordic countries will be instrumental in continuing on the upward trend.
"Logistics is one of the tools that play an important role in the change and improvement of economic indicators. It provides significant macro contributions to national economy by creating employment, creating national income and foreign investment influx," he said.
He also added that NCCI organised this event, recognising the bold effort of the government to invest in ports and terminals with modern facilities and best technologies.
Following the inauguration, four panel discussions titled 'Capital', 'Digitisation in Trade', 'Processes' and 'Policies and Roadmap Ahead' were also held.
The first panel discussion on capital was moderated by Policy Research Institute (PRI) Vice Chairman Dr Sadiq Ahmed, while Angshuman Mitra Mustafi, country manager of Maersk, made the keynote presentation.
Chairman of Payra Port Authority Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail, Director of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Md Ariful Hoque, and Director General of Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) Md Abul Bashar joined the panel discussion.
According to the keynote presentation, Bangladesh's logistics sector will be a market of approximately $90 billion by 2025.
It also said integrating 100 special economic zones and multiple port gateways by 2030 will help boost FDI and scale up the use of the inland waterways and railways.
