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 [A
single country trade fair Expo Bangladesh 2005
is going to be organized from September 15 to 17
at Barbican Centre in London to promote exports
and to create a new, positive and dynamic image
of Bangladesh as an economy and investment
target. Expo Bangladesh 2005 will focus on
'trade buyers' of the Bangladeshi exports from
across the UK and EC. It will help the exporters
creating opportunities to network with existing
buyers in textiles, RMG, seafood, leather,
handicrafts etc. and to promote newer export
sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agro-foods, ICT
and light engineering. This will be a remarkable
event as Bangladesh British Chamber of Commerce
(BBCC) being an external organization in
collaboration with Bangladesh Government is
organizing such kind of large scale trade fair.
The Director General of Bangladesh British
Chamber of Commerce Mr. Wali Tasar Uddin visited
Dhaka in relation to coordinate th May. He gave
e fair in lastexclusive interview expressing the
an mission and vision of this fair to Cotton
Bangladesh before leaving for UK.]
CBD: What is the vision and mission of
Bangladesh British Chamber of Commerce?
Dr. Wali: Since the Bangladesh-British Chamber
of Commerce was established in 1991, our mission
and vision were to promote, protect and
strengthen bi-lateral trade and commerce between
Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, to promote
investment, joint-ventures, training, research
and development opportunities between traders in
Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and such other
countries as are deemed appropriate and also to
organize and participate in all manner of
exhibitions and trade shows for the purposes of
demonstrating new goods and services.
CBD: How Bangladesh British Chamber of Commerce
works in the development of the relationship
between the two business communities?
Dr. Wali: The most effective way of establishing
the strong relationship is by exchanging the
information and expertise between the two
countries in relation to business and
investment. In that regard our trade missions
went to Bangladesh several times with business
delegates from various business sectors and also
trade mission from Bangladesh visited UK. We are
now mounting the Expo Bangladesh 2005 trade fair
which is going to be the real reflection of our
mission and look forward to stage this kind of
fair on a regular basis. Our honorary patrons
are the High Commissioners of both countries and
this facilitates our access to the trade and
investment departments of both Governments. We
have established our Bangladesh Regional office
in Dhaka which is well equipped with modern
technology and other office facilities which our
members can utilise if they require.
CBD: What is the objective of organizing a
single country fair Expo Bangladesh 2005 in UK?
Dr. Wali: The main reasons for staging the
single country trade fair are to promote exports
and to create a new, positive and dynamic image
of Bangladesh as an economy and as an investment
target. We are focusing on 'trade buyers' of the
Bangladeshi exports from across the UK and EC.
Also to create an opportunity to network with
established and new buyers. Besides creating an
opportunity for established exporters in
textiles, RMG, seafood, leather, handicrafts etc
to network with old and new buyers, we aim to
promote newer export sectors such as
pharmaceuticals, agro-foods, ICT and light
engineering. This is the first time the
Bangladesh government and EPB have accepted the
initiative of an NRB Chamber for such a large
scale trade fair and worked alongside with us as
partners to promote trade and investment. This
is going to be a historical event as BBCC being
an external organization in collaboration with
Bangladesh Government is organizing such kind of
large scale trade fair. It was also our aim to
work in partnership with the Bangladesh
government and lessen the communication dialogue
barrier for trade and investment between the two
countries.
CBD: Is the response, both from Bangladesh and
UK satisfactory so far?
 Dr. Wali: Yes, we are happy with the awareness
of this large scale trade fair amongst the
business community and general public in both
Bangladesh and Britain. We already have many
companies from Bangladesh and UK who have paid
and signed up to participate at the Expo. We
have every intention to accommodate the
interested participants at the Expo but
unfortunately due to venue capacity and
exhibitor selection criteria some of the
companies were unsuccessful. We would definitely
approach in them future to participate in the
trade fairs organized by BBCC. We are getting
constant support for Expo activities and
highlights by the mainstream media such as
satellite television channels, news paper and
trade magazines. We also have supportive
response from The Mayor of London, London
Development Agency, London First, Tower Hamlet
Council, elected MPs and councillors, local
businessmen and community leaders, as well as
Foreign Chambers of Commerce and other European
business bodies. The stalls and displays will be
supported by a series of short and focused
lectures, seminars and question / answer
sessions on different trade and investment
topics. Speakers' response for the Expo seminar
programme so far is satisfactory and we are
selecting the speakers from delegates to
represent government, companies, businesses and
senior academics. British Bangladeshi young
professionals & student groups from the
universities are very enthusiastic and willing
to take part in the seminar program as well as
at the Expo. A positive response with great
enthusiasm has been shown by the Ethical Fashion
Forum who is going to Showcase fashion designs
by new and established Bangladeshi and UK
designers at the Expo trade fair in September
and as part of it they have already conducted
fashion shows at our Expo Gala dinner & the Expo
press launch in May 2005 . The UK celebrity
chefs have also shown interests in the Expo and
therefore to make Expo more interesting &
attractive, we are going to arrange a 'Chef
Competition' on Bangladeshi cuisine using
Bangladeshi products which includes traditional
spices and ingredients with native presentation.
CBD: Do you think that the export of Bangladeshi
products to UK would increase after the fair?
Dr. Wali: We are very much optimistic for the
positive outcome of Expo after September towards
Bangladesh and UK trade and investment. All the
possible efforts have been taken to make sure
that the Expo will be successful to achieve its
aims and objectives. Our main objective is to
establish the platform for the Bangladeshi
products to be presented to the UK and European
market along with arrangements of bringing the
trade buyers. Sometimes it is difficult for many
Bangladeshi companies to come to UK and look for
buyers and therefore, this trade fair will
create an opportunity for them in that regard.
However, the export of Bangladeshi products
depends on some other factors as well. The
increase of export from Bangladesh will
definitely depend on the quality maintenance of
the products as well as other export related
policies by the Bangladesh government and UK or
European buyers.
CBD: Do you envisage increase in export of those
products e.g. textile and RMG, which is under
threat in the post MFA period?
Dr. Wali: The BGMEA and BKMA are better placed
than the BBCC to answer this question but one of
the main reasons why we are mounting the Expo is
precisely the need to try to help meet this
threat in these crucial export sectors. We are
encouraged by the large investment that has been
made in these sectors and believe that
Bangladesh now has a very dynamic private sector
base in these industries which can compete
around the world and continue to grow even
against increased competition.
CBD: What changes in systems and attitude must
Bangladesh adopt to increase its export volume
in UK?
Dr. Wali: Bangladesh's exporters are very
entrepreneurial. Successful firms are well aware
of the constant need to work with buyers to get
closer to the market, improve reliability of
quality and delivery, control costs while
improving factory conditions etc. Many of the
major factors determining the degree of success
or failure are of course largely outside their
direct control, such as the efficiency of the
ports and airports, costs of capital,
bureaucratic delays and charges etc. It is
clearly vital that business chambers and
governments work closely together to
continuously improve the overall business
environment within Bangladesh and thus the
capacity of exporters to be competitive.
CBD: What do you think of the Investment
Environment in Bangladesh?
Dr. Wali: The investment environment has long
been weakened by such well known factors as weak
infrastructure, particularly in reliable power
supplies and logistics; hartals; corruption; and
poor quality bureaucracy and trade unions. The
costs of investment capital have been kept high
by the needs of governments to fund the
inefficient state sector PSUs and banks. These
weaknesses, combined with a poor international
image have tended to outweigh the good
investment packages on offer to investors. Our
Expo, however, aims to point out that, although
many of these weaknesses are still a problem as
they are in many emerging economies they are
recognized as a real impediment to faster
progress and they are being tackled. Progress is
inevitably slow and frustrating but if one
stands back to compare where Bangladesh is today
with where it was only a few years ago one can
see dramatic changes emerging, with still bigger
changes ahead.
CBD: How do you work in promoting Foreign
Investment in Bangladesh?
Dr. Wali: The Expo aims not only to show that
Bangladesh is changing and tackling its problems
but that there are some major new factors that
should jolt foreign firms and financial
institutions who have never considered
Bangladesh as a possible investment area into
taking another look, e.g. Bangladesh has:
macro economic stability and an excellent record
of not defaulting on debt,
over a decade of average 5% growth,
basic assets of water, natural gas and (now)
high quality coal,
comparatively high profit returns for successful
firms and investors,
improving logistics from major new bridges,
rail, port and airport improvements and from the
transformation of
communications by mobile
phones and internet shortly to be immensely
boosted by the submarine cable to
Singapore,
a strengthening capital market and financial
institutions, including a network of foreign
banks,
after a decade in which FDI was largely
restricted to EPZs at Chittagong and Dhaka and
was measured in only a
very few hundreds of millions of US dollars new foreign
investment proposals in billions of dollars are
lining up,
led by the TATA group but from a wide range of countries. Not
all of them may come through but they will still
radically boost economic and social development.
The BBCC is sure that after a decade or more of
slowly accelerating change Bangladesh is ready
to move into higher gear. Bangladesh still faces
huge challenges and must further intensify the
drive for reforms of all kinds, but we are
increasingly confident for Bangladesh's future.
For the first time we feel that there is a big
new positive story to tell potential foreign
investors whose capital is needed to help
realize this future. We are determined to help
put over that story in the City of London and
beyond. Bangladesh has a big future and all
investors should take a serious look to see
whether they can be part of it.
 CBD: What is the future plan of Bangladesh
British Chamber of Commerce?
Dr. Wali: We plan to build on the progress made
already which has included the building up of a
national structure across the UK and the
establishment of an active branch office in
Dhaka. We intend to develop a full business
centre in London to improve communication and
services to all our members. The strategy
includes a drive to open up the Chamber to more
members from the younger generation to help
ensure that the BBCC adapts to changes in the
composition, outlook and needs of the business
and professional community. We shall also work
to strengthen our links and collaboration with
other business chambers and organizations,
particularly in Bangladesh and the UK but also
in the EU, USA and elsewhere. Lastly, we shall
build on Expo Bangladesh 2005 to plan further
trade fairs and events in pursuit of our basic
aim which is to foster trade and investment with
Bangladesh and serve the British Bangladeshi
community.
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