Factories in Araihazar Economic zone, dedicated for Japanese entrepreneurs will start next year. Ito Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh shared this information with Md. Jashim Uddin, President of FBCCI.
Ambassador of Japan paid a courtesy call on FBCCI President on Thursday afternoon.
Ito Naoki said that Bangladesh would be a major destination for Japanese entrepreneurs to invest in the future. The interest of Japanese companies is increasing, especially around the Araihazar economic zone. There is an opportunity to further develop the economy of Bangladesh by utilizing this interest. However, Ito Naoki called for making the investment environment friendlier.
Restriction on overseas remittance from branches, limitation in loans for working capital, restriction on royalty remittance, overdue payment, delay of LC, collection of additional income taxes and VAT, renewal of bond license, wage gap between inside and outside EPZ etc. are creating barriers to the investments, he added.
FBCCI President Md. Jasim Uddin assured that FBCCI would work sincerely with the government to solve these problems. He said more than a hundred Japanese companies have been doing business in Bangladesh for many years. Besides, Japan is one of the major partners of Bangladesh in development projects.
Moreover, with the economic development, the lifestyle of the people of Bangladesh has been upgraded. As a result, the size of the domestic market has also increased. The popularity of Japanese products in this country is also relatively high. Therefore, Japanese companies investing in Bangladesh are more likely to be profitable.
Also present at the meeting were FBCCI Vice President Mohammad Amin Helaly, Md. Habib Ullah Dawn, Director Md. Naser, Priti Chakraborty and Secretary General Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque.