Bangladesh has proposed to form a joint investment forum with Qatar to further explore business opportunities in a range of industries, including energy, tourism, and garments, among others.
Speaking at the Bangladesh Forum Qatar (BFQ) on Saturday, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Md Shariar Alam proposed to form the Bangladesh-Qatar Investment Forum, “considering the enormous opportunities for bilateral co-operation between the two countries.”
In his speech, Alam said: “We are in dire need of investments from our capital friends like Qatar. In the power and energy sector where Qatar is already exporting LNG to Bangladesh, we are in need of $60bn by 2041 just to set aside our need for energy and power, as well as related petroleum products.
“There is huge potential for collaboration between our two brotherly countries in all these sectors. We have yet to see Qatar as an active partner in all our development initiatives.”
On the sidelines of the forum, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) executive chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam told Gulf Times that he will send Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) a draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the Bangladesh-Qatar Investment Forum, including a letter that would provide an overview of existing projects in Bangladesh that QIA could consider for investments.
He said the MoU would revolve mainly on how QFC and Bida could work to promote strategic investments for both Qatar and Bangladesh. 
The MoU also aims to engage Qatar’s financial sector and capital market, especially in mergers and acquisitions, “which is a big area of investments where QFC has the strength,” Islam pointed out. Aside from the energy sector, Qatar and Bangladesh have potential investment opportunities in agro-processing, education and skills development, hospitality, and healthcare, Islam said.
According to Islam, the government is not only looking to infuse Qatari investments in major projects in Bangladesh, but it is also eyeing to bring companies to setup shop in Qatar “to create added value” for both countries’ economies.
He also underscored Bangladesh’s role in helping develop the ecosystem of Qatar’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector.
“Bangladesh has created world-class entrepreneurs in a number of sectors such as RMG (readymade garments), textiles, power, and in leather and footwear. Our pharmaceutical industry is world-class,” he said.
“In the Mena region, it’s possible to develop our pharmaceutical industry and target this region, and the facility could be based in Doha. Our entrepreneurs and skilled workers can come here, take Qatari capital, and build a great pharmaceutical industry here,” he continued.
He said Bangladesh “as an SME country,” has undertaken a massive entrepreneurship development programme, which has been implemented even in the remotest part of the country.
“It could be, what you can call, an inclusive model of developing entrepreneurship. Bangladesh will come out as a nation of entrepreneurship and innovation. 
“I think Qatar can do it, and do it even more fruitfully. And given the situation that Qatar is in – it has financial resources, great network, good knowledge-base, and it has the ability to acquire technology,” Islam stressed.




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