DHAKA: An exhibition titled ‘Showcase Bangladesh-2014’ is set to be held from November 14 to November 16 at Petronas Convention Center in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.

Former president of Bangladesh–Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) Syed Nurul Islam is chairing the exhibition organizing committee.

The CEO of Well Group Syed Nurul Islam shared his experiences on various aspects of the exhibition with Banglanews24.com last Saturday.

He told that Bangladesh has trade deficit with Malaysia. The business relation with Malaysia did not grow to the extent of facilities available. As a result, Bangladesh is not gaining benifit.

It is possible to reduce the negative balance of trade with Malaysia if Bangladesh utilizes the duty-free facilities.

Syed Nurul Islam said that Bangladesh has been enjoying duty-free access to Malaysian markets for the past two years that helped reducing the deficit.

But still it is below par standard. “We need to make full utilization to reduce the negative balance of trade,” he stressed.

The Well Group CEO, however, pointed to the fact that the situation is improving.

Earlier the volume of export to Malaysia was US$50 million which now has creep up to $100 million. The export items include readymade garments, home textile, jute products, light engineering and potato. 

He further said the bilateral relation between Bangladesh and Malaysia is very strong. Malaysian government wants to expand trade with Bangladesh but our entrepreneurs also need to respond positively. 

Nurul Islam said our businesspeople face hurdles in exporting readymade garments in Europe or USA. But we do not take initiatives to export those in the neighboring countries.

We are getting duty-free access to Malaysian markets for readymade garments. So, we should avail that facility. Besides, there are duty-free facilities for hundreds of exportable goods of Bangladesh.

Maybe, our businesspersons are not interested to export in Malaysia as the volume of their orders is generally small. But the middle range businesspersons can take the chance.

The main thing is that our businesspeople did not take chance of duty-free access to Malaysian markets that has created the trade deficit.

Mentioning that for the third time, BMCCI has been organizing ‘Showcase Bangladesh’ fair, Syed Nurul Islam further said people have conception that participating in any exhibition means getting orders of millions of dollars. But that is not the case. “It is an attempt to enhance the image of the country,” he added.

Nurul Islam also informed that there are two types of exhibition here. One is ‘Showcase Bangladesh’ that held in Malaysia and the other is ‘Showcase Malaysia’, held in Bangladesh.

Regarding business relations with Malaysia he commented that Malaysia is a potential place for investment. It can invest in the infrastructure sector of Bangladesh as they possess strong technological support.

During the past twenty years, Malaysia has advanced amazingly. They have become self-dependent in energy sector, achieved expertise in the construction of bridges and roads and so on. Malaysian investors can get views on Bangladesh and become interested in investing here, he added.

He further said it is not tough for us to build spinning mills, biscuit factories and textile mills but due to technological ineptitude we could not setup large infrastructural establishments in the country. In these cases, we can seek Malaysian support.

Malaysia is now investing in energy sector. They showed interest to invest in the Padma Bridge project too. 

Nurul Islam said it is a national responsibility to present Bangladesh positively in Malaysia. They think that the cost of labor is lower in Bangladesh.  But we want to say that “we are a good country for human resource and good for large investment”.

Speaking about last year’s exhibition Nurul Islam said they laid importance on remittance. There are more than five lakh legal Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia and they send nearly one billion dollar in legal way.

Moreover, local companies are interested to know about banks and investment organizations in Bangladesh.

Two seminars titled ‘Investment opportunity in Bangladesh’ and ‘EPZ and Infrastructure’ will be held in the exhibition. About thirty reputed companies from Bangladesh including Dhaka Bank, Green Delta, City Bank, Rupali Bank, Abdul Momen, Well Food and BBS will participate in the exhibition for branding Bangladesh.

“We want to exhibit our country positively which is populated by 16 crore people and here prevails a congenial atmosphere for investment. In our country investment is propitious in the energy and communication sectors. There is a bright future to work with government through PPP,” he added. 

They have been trying to overcome the weaknesses of last year and making all out efforts to project branding Bangladesh positively as well as enhancing the image of the country, he added.

“We will consider us successful if, even, a single investor comes to invest in Bangladesh. If we can manage a large company to invest in constructing a road or setting up a power plant in Bangladesh, that will be a success of the chamber,” Nurul Islam added.

Bangladesh Industry Minister Amir Hossain Amu and his Malaysian counterpart and energy minister will also be present in the exhibition.

Once again mentioning the trade deficit, Nurul Islam told Malaysia exports goods worth one billion dollars while we export a bit more than 100 million dollars.

They have better capacity. Malaysia is a petroleum producing country. We purchase oil from Petronus. From that point of view, the trade deficit will be constant.

The deficit, however, gradually will come down if Bangladeshi businesspeople can increase exporting readymade garments and light engineering.

BDST: 1400 HRS, NOV 10, 2014