Ambassador of Philippines in Bangladesh Alan L. Deniega had a meeting with the President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Dhaka Chamber) Rizwan Rahman on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Rizwan Rahman said, due to the resilience of Bangladeshi private sector and prudent macro economy management of the government, export of Bangladesh has increased by 15 percent after the COVID 19 pandemic.
He mentioned that Philippines made incredible success in health and tourism sector and later he urged investor of Philippines to invest in these sectors in Bangladesh.
He also proposed to setup `Nursing Institute’ in Bangladesh to train up our medical professionals.
Rizwan Rahman mentioned that, in FY 2020-21 bilateral trade between the two countries was US$124.24 million, where the import and export of Bangladesh was US$49.72 and US$74.52 million respectively.
DCCI President further said IT & ITES and Fintech, Agro & Food Processing, Leather & Footwear, Plastic Products, FMCG & Retail, and Pharmaceuticals etc. are very potential for the Philippines entrepreneurs where they can invest. Ambassador of Philippines in Bangladesh Alan L. Deniega said that after the LDC graduation, Bangladesh may take initiative to hold discussion to sign free trade agreement (FTA) not only with the Philippines but also with the ASEAN countries to expand its export and trade. He also said that Bangladesh has done a tremendous progress in social and economic development in the recent past. He said domestic tourism of Bangladesh is quite good and it is growing day by day. But to attract foreign tourists infrastructure development is crucial. Meanwhile, President of Bangladesh-Philippines Chamber of Commerce & Industry Akbar Hakim said that counterpart of Bangladeshi business community in Philippines are not very much aware of Bangladesh’s potential sector. DCCI Vice President Monowar Hossain and Third Secretary and Vice Consul of the Philippines Embassy Christian Hope V. Reyes were also present during the meeting.