Govt yet to decide on allowing investment in Africa; Delay may shrink opportunities

By AKM Moinuddin
UNB Staff Writer
Dhaka, June 24 (UNB) - The government has not yet taken any formal decision on allowing Bangladeshi investors to invest in Africa that leaves a clear field for other competing countries like China, India and Pakistan.
The inordinate delay in getting government clearance might hinder the exceedingly lucrative opportunities for Bangladeshi investors in farming sector in the vast and untapped rural expanse of Africa.
Though the businesspeople here are very much certain of getting the necessary clearance, they want to get the government feedback as soon as possible.
“Competition will become harder if the process is delayed. Other competing countries will grab the opportunities. With each day’s delay, the opportunities are apparently shrinking,” businessman Abdul Matlub Ahmad told UNB over phone.
He, however, said they are cent percent sure that the government would eventually allow the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs to in invest in Africa and other prospective countries.
“Yes, it’s true that other countries like China, India and Pakistan will take advantage of the delay on our part,” said Matlub, the president of Bangladesh Africa Business Organization (BABO).
Asked about the reasons behind the delay, he said so many political issues including budget came in focus and the government is virtually busy with handling those issues.
“A high-level-meeting in this regard was scheduled to be held on Thursday (June 23), but cancelled at the last moment. We hope, we’ll get a decision after the approval of the budget,” Matlub said.
SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Abul Kashem Ahmed, who is also interested to invest in Africa, said two committees at private and public level are evaluating the pros and cons of any investment in Africa.
“Let’s see what they suggest,” he said adding that usually, it takes time.
Earlier, last year, two fact-finding missions led by the Foreign Secretary found farming opportunity in Africa, the so-called Dark Continent, for the Bangladeshi investors. The teams visited Liberia, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana.
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs can invest in rice, wheat, cotton, cocoa and coffee farming in Africa.
The government sent the fact-finding missions in August and September last year as part of its efforts to ensure food security for the country's fast-growing population. Already Chinese farmers have invested heavily in farmlands in a number of sub-Saharan African nations. They are backed by their government. Some Middle-East nations also made similar moves.
Seeing the investment possibilities in Africa, a group of Bangladeshi businessmen formed the BABO and started lobbying with the government to get clearance for investment there.
The BABO leaders at a press conference on May 30 said there is huge investment opportunity for Bangladesh in African countries that can help ensure the country’s food security through producing rice and other agricultural products there.
They are now lobbying with the government to allow Bangladeshi investors to make investment in Africa by removing all barriers so that potentials in Africa could be explored fully. FBCCI president AK Azad also favored the proposal and had requested Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to take appropriate steps in this regard.
END/UNB/AKM