Improving investment climate is crucial to attract Japanese investors: Japanese envoy
He said bottlenecks have been removed over the last six months, but there are still issues needs to be addressed on an urgent basis
Japanese companies are eager to invest in Bangladesh, but it is important to remove bottlenecks first to create favorable business climate for them, said Ito Naoki, ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh on Thursday.
He made the remark, while speaking at a roundtable discussion on 'Japan-Bangladesh trade and business growth and the role of private sector banks' at the head office of Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) in Dhaka.
'To attract Japanese companies to invest more in Bangladesh, it is important to address the existing issues of the companies operating in Bangladesh. If that can be addressed there will be a greater flow of Japanese investment," said the Japanese ambassador.
He added that bottlenecks have been removed over the last six months, but there are still issues needs to be addressed on an urgent basis.
Yuho Hayakawa, country representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), Yuji Ando, country representative, Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) and president of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI), Hideaki Kojima, managing director (MD) and chief representative of MUFG Bank, and Tareq Rafi Bhuiyan, secretary general, JBCCI and other officials of EBL and JETRO were present at the event.
They said improvement in Letter of Credit (LC) settlement will greatly improve investment climate of Bangladesh.
Yuji Ando, pointed out that the terms and conditions of LC should be more simplified for business growth in Bangladesh.
Hideaki Kojima said, "Bangladesh has the most complicated LC opening conditions. There are terms and conditions only unique to Bangladesh. Simplification in LC opening conditions is crucial for business growth."
He also said Bangladesh needs to introduce TT remittance settlement to join global or regional supply chain.
Khurshed Alam, DMD, Md Ahmed Shaheen, DMD, Ziaul Karim, head of Communications & External Affairs, Khorshed Anowar, head of RB & SME, Riad Mahmud Chowdhury, head of Relationship Unit, Corporate Banking, Mehdi Zaman, head of Treasury, Md Obaidul Islam, head of Relationship Unit, Corporate Banking and Seefat Jahan, Senior Manager, Communications & External Affairs of EBL also spoke on the occasion.