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| Pierre Mayaudon, Ambassador and the Head of Delegation to Bangladesh |
Bangladesh, despite having a lot of potential, is struggling
to attract massive and new foreign direct investments from the European Union
due to growing militancy and political uncertainty, a top EU diplomat said
yesterday [May 12].
The EU members are convinced that Bangladesh is a land of
opportunities for foreign companies as the country has been maintaining gross
domestic product growth of at least 6 percent over the years, said Pierre
Mayaudon, ambassador of the EU in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has also performed well in the Millennium
Development Goals.
“It is not by chance that Goldman Sachs has listed
Bangladesh among the so-called “Next Eleven” most promising economies of the
21st century.”
Mayaudon’s comments came at the first EU-Bangladesh Business
Council meeting.
Bangladesh has many assets for attracting foreign investment
and yet money is not flowing into the country in a big way, he said at the
meeting where diplomats and leaders of the joint chambers between Bangladesh
and the EU were present.
The figures do not always reflect this reality due to some
reinvestments by foreign companies already based in Bangladesh. “But genuine
new FDI falls short of expectations -- why such a paradox?”
“Of course the uncertainties of the political context are
often put forward to explain this stagnation, together with the growing
militancy that now translates into multiple savage and still unexplained and
unpunished assassinations, including that of foreigners.”
Shortage of energy and limited infrastructure are also
frequently mentioned to explain why foreign investors think twice before coming
to Bangladesh, he said. Besides, Europe's private investors have been
facing numerous legal, technical or just practical obstacles in expansion of
business in Bangladesh, he said.
About 60 percent of Bangladesh's garment exports are
destined for the EU, and total exports to the region would have crossed the
$20-billion mark last year had the euro not been devalued.
Bangladesh, as a least-developed country, has been enjoying
a zero-duty benefit to the EU since 1971 under the EU's “everything but arms”
scheme.
[Excerpted from Star Business Report]
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