Japanese entrepreneurs are willing to invest in Bangladesh due to its large consumers’ base, but the country needs to ensure consistency of policy and tax incentive on parts manufactured here, said Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) chief country representative in Dhaka.

In an interview with Daily Sun, Yuji Ando, also former president of Japan-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JBCCI), said the tax rate on import of raw materials should be cut, based on conditions.

Policy implementation is crucial to curb corruption in the country, he added, emphasising that customs clearance, corruption, and lack of implementation of regulations are the big challenges in doing business in Bangladesh.

“We try to bring more investment to Bangladesh through intervention. JETRO has been working in this regard, like the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). Currently, 350 Japanese companies are working here,” he said.

Yuji Ando stated that Bangladesh is being developed, but overall situations must be improved to attract foreign direct investments (FDI). “Though, it is a continuous process.”

He pointed out that the country needs to improve its business environment considering its other competitor countries.

“These issues should be considered in the national budget.”

Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali is set to place the FY 2024-25 budget at Jatiya Sangsad tomorrow.

“As the Japan-Bangladesh relation is getting stronger, we started negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). We are negotiating on investment, trade facilitation, and e-commerce. Our first round of discussion has already been done,” Ando said.

“We expect that the negotiation will conclude at the end of 2025. It is a long process. But we do not have much time as Bangladesh will graduate from the least developed country (LDC) status in 2026. We must conclude the deal by that time,” he said.

This agreement aims to ensure continued zero-duty entry of Bangladeshi products to Japan after the LDC status.

“We hope both countries will be benefited if the agreement is done. Bangladesh’s exports to Japan, particularly readymade garments (RMG), will get a significant boost after the agreement,” he hoped.

He said the investment climate will become better. “It will be of international standard. The business climate and bilateral trade will be improved significantly after completing the agreements.”

Ando said, “More Japanese companies will be interested to come here as Bangladesh has a huge market of more than 170 million people. If the machinery market is expanded for Japanese investors, this will attract huge investment.”

He believes in future more FDI will be required in the RMG sector for the man-made fibre products’ production. “It will help Bangladesh exports to grow further.”

“We try to bring more manufacturing companies to Bangladesh.  Besides, we are looking for potential in the IT sector. The population in Japan is declining. Bangladesh has human resources. There is huge scope to employ IT engineers,” Ando said.

He said they were looking for the startup companies to collaborate.

Bangladesh Startup Summit 2024 will be held on 27-28 July this year at Hotel InterContinental, Dhaka.

JETRO's chief country representative said, “We will try to bring a delegation from Japan here in a bid to strengthen business ties.”

Trade between Bangladesh and Japan increased to US$3.93 billion in fiscal year 2022-23 from $3.79 billion in previous year, the data showed.

A total of 1,152 candidates are contesting the polls in the third phase, with 397 vying for the posts of chairman, 456 for vice-chairman posts, and 299 for reserved vice-chairman posts, according to the EC factsheet.

Already, a total of one chairman, four vice-chairmen, and seven reserved vice-chairmen candidates have been elected unopposed in the third phase. All the candidates from Vandaria upazila in Pirojpur district were elected unopposed.

A total of 2,08,75,184 voters will cast their votes to elect chairmen, vice-chairmen and reserved vice-chairmen in today’s third phase of upazila polls.