American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) President.Syed Ershad Ahmed has hoped that more cooperation may attract more US investment in diversified segments and contribute in Bangladesh.
He highlighted the fact that partnerships are critical and they value the mutual cooperation between the USA and Bangladesh.
The AmCham organized a discussion over dinner on “Bilateral Trade Relations for Driving Growth” at a hotel in Dhaka on Monday.
Brendan Lynch, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), South and Central Asia (Acting) and Mahnaz Khan, Director for South Asia, (USTR) attended the discussion as the guests of honor.
Syed Mohammad Kamal, Vice President – AmCham moderated the discussion.
USA is the single largest export market for Bangladeshi goods in the world and the bilateral trade volume in FY 2022 was approximately $14 billion, said the President, adding that a number they are working hard to increase.
"USA is still the largest contributor to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Bangladesh and the biggest source of remittance too."
Both Brendan Lynch and Mahnaz Khan from USTR applauded the work AmCham and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) do in collaboration and tried to underscore the outline of the growth drivers that bilateral trade can play to improve the relations of the two friendly nations, especially during the postpandemic geo-political situation where global supply chain is disrupted causing unrest in the economy of many countries in this region.
They both mentioned that the USA has a keen interest to invest in different sectors of Bangladesh.
Mahnaz Khan also overviewed about potential investment opportunities in Bangladesh.
AmCham former Presidents that included Forrest E Cookson, Aftab Ul Islam and Md. Nurul Islam shared their perspective on the US role in the WTO fostering the economic growth, the background of TICFA and its potentials, the opportunities of FDI from USA in various sectors apart from power and energy and role of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) can play in fostering the bilateral economic growth.
The Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) chairman Dr. Zaidi Sattar supplemented on the role of WTO and in the evolving geo-political environment how both US-Bangladesh can act on it days ahead.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president, Faruque Hassan shared the improvement Bangladesh has made in the last decade ensuring a safe working place and suggested to consider the preferential tariff regime similar to GSP for Bangladesh once it completes LDC graduation.
Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) President Syed Almas Kabir shared his idea of upcoming changes in ICT and knowledge-based industry and invited US academic footprint in the sector.
AmCham member and former BASIS president Habibullah N. Karim as well as current BASIS President Russell T Ahmed echoed the potential Bangladesh holds for ICT industry that revolves around blockchain, Artificial Intelligence so on and invited the visiting team to explore the opportunity and share the experience back in USA.
The managing director - Coca-Cola Bangladesh Ltd, Ta Duy Tung shared his suggestions about ease of doing business with regard to taxation policy and energy situation in Bangladesh and their future investment plan to expand the operation.
ICC Bangladesh president, Mahbubur Rahman, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) President Md. Sameer Sattar, Sohail R. K. Hussain the Managing Director & CEO of Meghna Bank Ltd, M S Siddiqui shared their views and listened to the responses from the visiting USTR officials going forward.