Interim government spends Tk 14.5m on Investment Summit: what’s the return?

The interim government has spent Tk 14.5 million on this year’s Investment Summit to change what it described as a “deep-rooted negative narrative” among global investors about Bangladesh.

The four-day summit may not have been “10 out of 10”, but was an attempt to host a global-standard event for the first time, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun said during a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy on Sunday.

“Whether the summit was successful—time will tell,” he said.

“Many people still see Bangladesh only through a South Asian lens, associating us only with floods and droughts. To dispel that negative narrative, we brought investors here to witness the real Bangladesh,” he added.

According to BIDA’s Head of Business Development Nahian Rahman Rochi, 710 people attended the opening session, including 415 foreigners and expatriate Bangladeshis from 50 countries.

Moreover, 3,500 participants joined the startup panels or breakout sessions.

The summit featured 130 speakers and panellists and hosted 150 official meetings between investors and BIDA representatives.

Two major investment announcements were made during the event: China’s Handa Group and local startup ShopUp pledged a combined investment of Tk 31 billion.

Six memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were also signed.

The summit was supported by the European Union, UNDP, HSBC Bank, the Dutch Embassy, LightCastle Partners, Sajida Foundation and Eastern Bank Limited.

Detailing the expenses, BIDA chairman Ashik said the government’s contribution of Tk 14.5 million was 42 percent less than initially planned.

The World Bank, FICCI and UNDP, as event partners, contributed a combined total of nearly Tk 50 million.

“They spent this amount for Bangladesh’s branding,” he said.

He cautioned against measuring the summit’s success solely based on the investment announcements.

“No investor makes a final decision on investment just by attending a summit. It would be unfair to credit these announcements solely to the summit.”

“The main goal was to shift foreign perceptions of Bangladesh. These investors went back with a new perspective,” he said.

“Meanwhile, we’ll continue our reform efforts, improve the investment climate, and develop a pipeline. This pipeline will start to yield visible results by 2026 or 2027,” he added.

The summit also saw several MoUs signed, including ones with NASA and the International Labour Organization.

Fashion brand H&M signed an MoU with PRAN Group on renewable energy.

Ashik noted that some investors visiting Bangladesh for the first time expressed interest in recommending the country to others.

However, those already doing business here acknowledged the challenges and called for simplification of procedures, he said.