Finance advisers call for USA to invest in agriculture, energy, climate

Dr. Finance Adviser urged the investors of the United States (USA) to invest more in the country's agriculture, energy, climate sector and other sectors. Salehuddin Ahmed.

He made this call while talking to reporters after a meeting with Helen Lafave, Charge d'Affaires of the United States Embassy, ​​at the secretariat on Sunday (August 25).

Finance advisor said, US is very important for us. They are very important economically. The USA has a large investment in the coastal region of Bangladesh. You will see that there are investments in coastal areas including Bagerhat, Pirojpur. But they are helping in different areas including agriculture sector. The main point is that we have talked about investing more in agriculture, energy, climate sector and other sectors.

He said, I have given special importance to the issue of flood. You know that they have some conditions, especially with the BGMEA and GSP, to meet the challenges in the private sector, they have urged to fulfill them. Apart from this, if they want to do our export, investment or direct investment and joint investment, they will do it. There has been a discussion about what can be done especially in the technical sectors including BASIS.

Salehuddin Ahmed said, they said so far the negotiation was a little slow. We told them we were in huge debt. But we have no debt with USA. All the help they gave, but not the loan, was grand. From that point of view, we are not burdened by their debt. That's why I asked them to help. They will soon help the agriculture sector. And in some cases they will have high level visitors. Will discuss with them. But who will come can not be said now. You will know when you come.

There were some complaints from the USA companies that they are not able to collect their money and many of our companies had sanctions – whether there was any kind of discussion on these issues or not – he said, today we did not discuss so deeply, but they said that we have pending issues. They have objections on certain issues such as labor laws. Having said that, we will see it soon. Apart from this, other pending issues are assured to be resolved quickly. There is a World Bank meeting ahead and I will discuss these issues again.

When asked what was discussed about GSP, the advisor said, we are not able to fulfill all the conditions of GSP. If conditions are not met, their high level Congress will not do these. I have now given the statement, it has not been seen. But these things are not so difficult for us.

In response to the question whether GSP was lifted due to political decision, Salehuddin Ahmed said that the condition of USA is not political. They have so many departments that congressmen can't do anything if they don't approve.

When asked why Debapriya Bhattacharya came, he said, he came, economy was discussed.

In response to the question whether he has said anything about the white paper, the finance adviser said, what they will do with the white paper. What do I do there?