Honorable Minister of Planning M. A. Mannan, Mr. Lokman Hossain, Chairman Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, Mr. Lord Marland, Chairman Commonwealth Investment and Council and Chairman Zillur Hossain MBE, Chairman of ZI Foundation and all the foreign delegates were present.
Dr. Suman Chowdhury said:
I express my sincere gratitude to all those who generously came forward to make this summit a success. The summit has sought to strengthen Bangladesh's trade and investment relations with Commonwealth member countries, increase trade cooperation at home and abroad, this facility creates a favorable environment for business growth and prosperity.
I would like to thank our Honorable Planning Minister M. I would like to express my sincere thanks to A Mannan sir.
Bangladesh's business sector is diverse and has opportunities in various industries. Moreover, the human development results have improved to a great extent. Under the visionary leadership of Hon'ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is determined to build a smart Bangladesh, Bangladesh is progressing on the highway of development. Therefore, it has great opportunities for trade and investment in many sectors.
I would like to share about the journey of steel industry in Bangladesh which started in 1952. Then, after 1990, as the infrastructure, construction work in Bangladesh increased rapidly, the demand for steel also increased at the same rate, resulting in the establishment of many large steel industries in the country. A country's development is measured by per capita consumption of steel. Current average per capita steel consumption in Bangladesh is 48 kg.
I am the Vice President of Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers Association and on behalf of my company RRM Steel I am speaking with CWEIC Chairman Lord Marland and the delegates of Commonwealth countries. . Therefore where industries have already set up many factories and increased capacity seeing earlier growth. Thus, the steel industry is already over capacity of 5 to 6 million tonnes of steel which talks about export potential to Commonwealth countries.
Dr. Sumon Chowdhury said:
I sincerely believe you will be able to gain more insights from this conference with a more nuanced understanding of Bangladesh's story and possibilities and opportunities.
He then specially thanked Lord Marland and welcomed Bangladesh for visiting and creating great potential in the future.
JH
