South Korea keen to invest in power, ICT, infrastructure

Lee said Korea would help in setting up more ICT educational institutes here as well as take IT professionals to Korea for increasing their skills by imparting training

 

Visiting South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Sunday expressed his country’s eagerness  to invest in infrastructure, power, ICT, IT, hi-tech park and other potential sectors in Bangladesh to further strengthen trade ties between the two nations.

Praising the ongoing development and success of Bangladesh, Lee Nak-yon also expressed his keenness to enhance economic cooperation and boost up Korean investment in Bangladesh. 

The Korean Prime minister said these while presenting the keynote speech at ‘Korea-Bangladesh Business Forum at Hotel InterContinental Dhaka. 

The event was jointly organized by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun,  FBCCI President Sheikh Fazle Fahim and KITA CEO and Chairman Young Ju Kim spoke at the program.  

Prime minister’s adviser on private industry and investment Salman F Rahman and business leaders were present.

The Korean premier said: “I hope the Korea-Bangladesh Business Forum will help advance the bilateral relations between the two countries to a new level."

Lee said his country was keen to provide cooperation for setting up hi-tech industries in Bangladesh for manufacturing diverse products here.

He observed that Bangladesh needed to expand its export basket beyond readymade garments and ship building industries.

Referring to various Korean assistances in Bangladesh’s energy and infrastructure arenas, the Korean premier said his country would like to extend more support in those fields.

He said Korea was keen to support the ICT sector as the digital Bangladesh campaign was the core pillar of Bangladesh’s goal to upgrade itself into a middle income country by 2021.

Lee said Korea would help in setting up more ICT educational institutes here as well as take IT professionals to Korea for increasing their skills by imparting training.

The Korean premier also laid emphasis on utilizing the full potentials of Korean EPZ in Chittagong.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the FBCCI and the Korea International Trade Association was signed. Fazle Fahim and Yung Zu Kim on behalf of their respective organizations signed the memorandum.

It may be mentioned that, Bangladesh's exports to South Korea was worth about $293.69 million in 2018-19 and imports were worth $981.20 million. The principal export products of Bangladesh to South Korea are knitwear, woven garments, footwear and leather and leather goods.

The import items from the country are vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment, base metals and amp, articles of base metal, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical equipment, and parts and chemical products.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi termed Korea as a significant development partner of Bangladesh and hoped that the visit of Korean prime minister would open up new avenue of cooperation in all aspects.

Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun mentioned that Korea was the 6th largest foreign investor in Bangladesh and his ministry was working as facilitator for creating conducive environment for the investors.

FBCCI President Fazle Fahim said that as an important trade partner the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Korea stood at about US$1.5bn in the last fiscal year with export from Bangladesh worth US$0.25bn and imports worth US$ 1.27bn. 

“With duty-free, quota-free market access to 90.4% of our tariff line to Korea, bilateral trade prospects are promising," he said. 

The FBCCI chief mentioned that to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), "we have one of the most liberal and flexible investment regimes in South Asia and Ease of Doing business measures."

In the morning, two sessions on ‘Korean Government’s New Southern Policy and Korea-Bangladesh Cooperation Strategies’ and ‘Best practices of Korea-Bangladesh Cooperation’ were held.  

Executive Member of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Nabhash Chandra Mandal presented his paper on ‘Korea-Bangladesh Investment Cooperation and Future Outlook and Lee Sun Joo presented a paper on ‘KT-Bangladesh Partnership’. 

In the second session, the papers were presented by Jahangir Saadat, president of KEPZ, on ‘Best practices in Youngone and Korean EPZ’, RyuChul Ho, regional director of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, on ‘The Bridge of Mutual Cooperation’ and Mohammad Enamul Kabir, director of Bangladesh Computer Council, on ‘Korea-Bangladesh IT Cooperation’. 

The South Korean premier arrived here Saturday afternoon on a three-day official visit to Bangladesh. 

On Monday, the South Korean prime minister will pay homage to the memory of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by placing a wreath at his portrait at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi. Lee is scheduled to leave Dhaka at 11:00am today by a special flight.