Businesses in India-Bangladesh see economic ties as bridge between two countries
DHAKA: Despite the current diplomatic uncertainty regarding the proposed visit of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to India, business communities in both countries continue to see opportunities for cooperation and closer economic ties, with trade and investment serving as a bridge between the two sides.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) delegation has just concluded its visit to Bangladesh, and the business leaders met with several government ministers and members of the Bangladeshi business community. They held discussions and dialogue, and after the meetings, they expressed satisfaction and said they were interested in further advancing business and trade relations with Bangladesh.
'There is a very strong industry delegation from India. There are strong businessmen who are involved in Bangladesh, who have been investing in Bangladesh, who have been trading with Bangladesh, who have been importing and exporting between India and Bangladesh. So it's a group which has come for multi-sector and from engineering to hospitals, you have all types of people in this group,' Chandrajit Banerjee, head of the CII delegation, told ANI.
CII representatives said they would continue their business-to-business engagement with Bangladesh, and in future they plan to send separate delegations from each sector to Bangladesh.
'And the outcome has been that we will be engaging in business-to-business in a stronger manner between the two countries. Number two, it is also that we will be coming back with sectoral delegations and have sectoral engagements to see how we can look at sectors like, you know, future technologies, areas of future technologies together. And the second big area that we will create a task force on will be infrastructure. Infrastructure and future technologies are two big outcomes. And lastly, of course, I must say that it was a great experience to come here, engage with many of the honourable ministers that we were able to meet, and we saw a very strong positivity towards, and encouragement for, the two businesses to work together,' Banerjee, also the director-general of CII, added.
Bangladeshi business leaders emphasised that their priority is not limited to trading alone. They are also seeking to establish manufacturing or factory operations in Bangladesh.
Rupali Haque Chowdhury, President of the Bangladesh Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), told ANI, 'India is a big economy, and Bangladesh is surrounded on almost all sides by India. So what we believe is that, apart from the people-to-people relationship, we have met Indian businessmen who have visited us. We ask them to establish factories here, not only to trade but to establish manufacturing plants here, and to bring technology and knowledge so that our people, the young people, can learn in terms of technology and become very good business partners.'
'So the people-to-people connection is there, but in terms of the economy also, we must work together so that both countries benefit from each other,' Chowdhury added.
Officials from both countries have also been working for several weeks to facilitate Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's first visit to India. While the Bangladesh government has indicated that the issue of Sheikh Hasina's extradition has added some complexity to bilateral ties, India remains hopeful that the visit will take place. A meeting between Rahman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi could provide an opportunity to strengthen engagement and address several bilateral issues.
By RSS/ANI
