Foreign investment pipeline created through investment summit: BIDA

A foreign investment pipeline has been created through this year's investment summit and continuous communication will be made with institutions which have proposed or promised to invest, said Nahian Rahman Rochi, head of Business Development of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).

Speaking at a briefing at the InterContinental hotel in the capital on Thursday (April 10), he said continuous monitoring would also be done to ensure the investment comes through.

"Investors usually take 18 to 24 months to invest; we will communicate with them on a per institution basis.

"We had 550 registrations here, out of which about 400-450 were foreign representatives. In some cases, two representatives have come. We will inform you about the complete investment and investor information later," he added.

In response to a question, he said, a $150 million agreement had been signed with Chinese RMG company Handa on the occasion of the summit.

In addition, ShopUp has received $110 million in investment.

"We will announce the total number of investment proposals received in the next press conference," he said.

He said the investors had also raised the issue of several challenges such as policy continuity, access to resources and corruption.

"We have bureaucratic complications, and efforts are being made to remove them."

In response to another question, Rochi said, not only the NBR, but also government services were slow.

"We are taking steps for inter-ministerial coordination. The NBR's green channel is being created," the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) official said.

BIDA Executive Member Shah Mohammad Mahboob and Deputy Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad Majumder were present at the briefing.