Rushanara for practical actions to remove hurdles to business

Rushanara Ali MP, the British Prime Minister's trade envoy for Bangladesh, stressed the need for taking practical actions to remove various obstacles to business.

Talking to a group of newsmen in the capital, the Bangladeshi-origin British parliamentarian said governance and corruption are well-known barriers to business.

"The barriers are well-known and well-understood. These barriers are not uncommon. These are applicable for all societies."

"A lot of progress has been made in the country in terms of poverty alleviation. But there are big issues like governance - not just for the government here, but for all the governments. And practical actions are needed to remove these obstacles."

Britain, a key development partner of Bangladesh, has been engaged for a long time in helping the country to remove such barriers, she also said.

Ensuring proper investment climate is required to attract foreign direct investment to the countries like Bangladesh.

Ms Rushanara Ali further said the key priority of her visit here is to make sure that more UK companies can invest in the country and the existing companies can raise the volume of their investment.

"I am here to keep the momentum, to make sure that UK companies can continue to operate here. And others, who are not here, can see Bangladesh as a place to invest in and trade with."

She opined that energy, infrastructure and IT are some of the areas where more British investments can be made.

About the new areas of business where the UK companies can be interested to invest, she said IT sector can be a key area for British investment. There are also a number of other fields like fashion.

"We have seen that British entrepreneurs are coming here to outsource fashion products."

Responding to a question, she said a good number of British Bangladeshis are working in BP, Shell, StanChart and other top multi-national companies.

"We are increasingly getting integrated in the British society and are contributing to its growth."

Ms Rushanara pointed out that through increased trade and development, countries like Britain can contribute to Bangladesh's efforts to attain the middle-income country status.

Investment is needed to attain inclusive growth which is imperative to achieve the development goals, she noted.

The Labour Party MP also said in the post-Brexit scenario, countries like Bangladesh would have more opportunity to enhance trade with Britain.

In this connection she noted that she is eager to see that Bangladesh would enjoy more benefit in its exports to Britain.

Asked about her stance against the atrocities carried out by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya population, she said the situation of the Rohingya refugees is terrific.

Bangladesh has done an extraordinary, unprecedented job by hosting over a million Rohingyas. But keeping them as refugees here is not a sustainable solution at all. So the world community should come up to support Bangladesh in resolving the crisis.

And there are issues regarding justice, which also need quick international initiatives, so that the perpetrators could be tried, she added.

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