CA invites Chinese investors to relocate their factories to Bangladesh

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Friday invited top Chinese companies to invest in Bangladesh and make the country a manufacturing hub to export their products to the West and Asia.

The Chief Adviser hosted four interactive meetings with more than 100 leading entrepreneurs and CEOs of China to share how Bangladesh is now open for business.

He also described the benefits of relocating their factories to Bangladesh, saying the country faces no trade restrictions and it offers some of the best competitive advantages and opportunities to foreign direct investors.

“It is the best time to set up your factories in Bangladesh,” he said, adding the country is strategically located and it’s the doorway for landlocked countries of Nepal and Bhutan and seven Northeastern states of India.

Chief Adviser Professor Yunus shared his vision of New Bangladesh, the future of trade and the potential of Bangladeshi youth during the sessions.

Prior to his speech, Ashik Chowdhury, Executive Chairman for BIDA and BEZA presented the case for the country titled ‘Bangladesh 2.0: Gateway to Growth.’

Chowdhury focused on data and shared sectoral heatmap, demand landscape and factors of production competitiveness.

He also shared some of the investment climate reforms the interim government is undertaking, such as AEO, collocation of agencies, relationship management models, etc.

“Xiànzài jèng shì shíhòu,” he said to the audience, meaning the time is now. This call comes on the back of the significant progress being made recently on the Chinese Special Economic Zone project by BEZA. Chowdhury also shared that he is already seeing clear synergy in merging organisations like BIDA and BEZA as one works to build and other promotes.

Ms Li Qingshuang, the Vice Chairperson of CCPIT – the Chinese chamber of commerce and industry –, also spoke in the Bangladesh investment dialogue.

She said Chinese investors were going global and many of them were interested to invest in Bangladesh.

Ms Li also asked Bangladesh authorities to host more investment promotion events in China as many investors were still not aware of the benefits of setting up factories in the South Asian country.

The CCPIT vice Chairperson said her organisation would facilitate more Chinese investment to Bangladesh. She also pledged to create a platform to promote investment to Bangladesh.

The investment dialogue was followed by three roundtables with leaders from infrastructure, renewable energy, technology industry and academia.

Senior officials and CEOs of top Chinese companies such as the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing company Longi, mobile phone maker Oppo, China Civil Engineering Construction Company, Hisense International, Gaotu Education Technology Group, China Biotech and Pharmaceuticals Valley, China Internet, China Machinery Engineering Corporation and China Railway International Group were, among others, who joined the roundtable sessions.

“We are encouraged by the enthusiastic enquiries from businesses. The Chinese delegation, which is already the largest at the upcoming investment summit in Dhaka in two week, is about to get bigger.” executive chairman Ashik Chowdhury later said.

The Chief Adviser also spoke at a high-level roundtable meeting on social business and the world of three zeroes.

Professor Yunus called for creating a new civilisation where there will be zero wealth concentration, zero bet carbon emissions, zero poverty and zero unemployment.

Top professors and Deans of Peking, Renmin and Tsinghua universities, three of the best educational institutions in the world, and top Chinese youth leader joined the meeting.

Li Daokui, a dean of the Tsinghua University, praised Professor Yunus, saying Bangladesh will be prosperous and achieve higher growth under his leadership.

He also offered to host Bangladesh bureaucrats and policy makers at the Tsinghua for a “day-long deep dive” to share lessons on China’s spectacular development. On Saturday morning, the Chief Adviser will visit Peking University and receive the Honorary Doctorate.

After receiving the Honorary Doctorate Degree, the Chief Adviser will deliver a speech to the audience.