Dhaka should be Obama’s first destination among Muslim countries

Dhaka should be Barack Obama’s first destination among Muslim countries.” This was stated by Ms Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at the prestigious think-tank the Heritage Foundation, according to a message received here from Washington DC yesterday.

Ms Curtis was speaking as a panelist at a briefing on “Implications of the recent Bangladesh election for business” at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC on Wednesday.

She put forward two main arguments in favour of her proposal. First, according to Ms Curtis, Bangladesh society is least susceptible to extremism as proved in the recently held election. Secondly, progress in women empowerment in Bangladesh has provided a solid check on the growing radicalisation prevalent in some other Muslim countries.

Ms. Curtis also said that economic option seems brighter now than earthier and hoped that there will be more tolerance among the political parties so that they can work together for the people of Bangladesh. She also urged the US government to consider lifting of all tariffs and there by allowing duty free access to products from least developed countries like Bangladesh to USA.

Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Humayun Kabir, who also spoke as a panelist, provided a run down on Bangladesh’s recent election and elaborated on how, compared to other economies in Asia.

The economy of Bangladesh has shown strong resilience and thereby acted as a bulwark for the country’s economy in the face of the current global economic and financial meltdown, he said.

Ambassador Kabir give a detailed sketch on how Bangladesh economy maintained its strong resilience and added that the strong growth in three main areas,—namely internal resource mobilisation, agriculture and manufacturing were attributable for this resilience.

Remittance is also flowing strong and the confidence of the business community is growing, he said adding through all these, Bangladesh has emerged as an attractive destination for foreign investment.

The Ambassador said through the just concluded free, fair and credible election it was eloquently proved that the people of Bangladesh are decisively in favour of democracy and ready to defend it at any cost.

He said that with a new conciliatory political culture emerging, Bangladesh is likely to remain much stable and investor friendly than other countries in the region.
The ambassador highlighted the government’s policy directions with regard to investment and the potential areas for foreign investment in Bangladesh.
Kabir urged the US companies to come forward and take advantage of the investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

Terming present-day Bangladesh as an exciting one, Donal Camp, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, another panelist, narrated on how warmly the government of US welcomed the outcome of the recent parliament election in Bangladesh.

Camp added that this election has upgraded Bangladesh to a new phase and hoped that the new government will assure international businesses and investors through continuity and follow up of earlier contracts and commitments.
He hoped that the opposition would also fulfil their democratic obligations to advance the causes of Bangladesh.

The session was followed by a lively question and answer session, where high officials of leading US companies like chevron, Boeing, Conocophillips took part and wanted to know about the investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

Some participants also cautioned that any departure from earlier commitments may send a wrong signal eroding business confidence in Bangladesh. The briefing was attended by US government officials, business executives, congressional staffs, academics, journalists and Bangladesh Embassy officials, the message added.

Source: BSS