The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, organized a business delegation to Bangladesh covering Chittagong and Dhaka from 17th to 21st February 2023. The delegation was led by Mr. Subir Chakraborty, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Exide Industries Limited. Mr. Gautam Ray, President Designate, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Executive Director (HR & Admin.) − CESC Limited & President (HR) − Power Group, RPSG CESC Limited was the deputy leader. The 20−member delegation was multi sectoral covering various verticals like Auto Ancillaries, Energy, Environment, Agriculture, Healthcare, Education, Technology Consulting Sector and Consultancy for other sectors, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Drinking Water, Retailing.

The delegation comprised of:

On 17th February 2023, post landing in Chittagong, the delegation was split in 2 groups, one group visited Mati−ta, an Eco Tourism Resort to discuss possibilities of collaborations and understanding the ecosystem in Bangladesh focusing on the sectors like real estate, tourism, epiculture. The other group visited a cement manufacturing company named Confidence Cement Ltd. This visit was facilitated by Chittagong Chamber catering to specific request from some of our delegate members. The GM of the plant gave a detailed presentation of their factory operations, import−export materials and routes, production capacity and the overall cement manufacturing ecosystem in Bangladesh.

The Assistant High Commissioner of India in Chittagong, Dr. Rajeev Ranjan, invited our delegates for a networking dinner, where Select industry leaders of Chittagong were also invited. President of Chittagong Chamber, Mr. Mahbubul Alam and Chief Operating Officer of Evercare, Mr. Samir Singh were present among others.

On 18th February 2023, The Delegation had B2B Meeting with the Members of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry where as an outcome of B2B interaction:

• To ease out flight connectivity especially from Chittagong, The Bengal Chamber has requested CCCI to send a communiqué for introduction of more flights from Chittagong to Kolkata and Agartala which we shall appropriately forward to our relevant authorities, while doing the needful at our end as well. We have also requested CCCI to send us some passenger statistics and the scope/potential of the air traffic between Chittagong and the said Indian cities.

• As discussed with Chittagong Chamber, for undertaking business facilitation, we have setup a Help Desk which is being hosted on our website for receiving queries on bilateral business issues, to which we shall respond appropriately on a case−to−case basis. The details of the same have been shared with CCCI.

CCCI has also been requested if a similar initiative can be undertaken at their end, following which we shall circulate it amongst our membership and stakeholders.

• From The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we would like to set up a network of Chambers of Commerce in the ASEAN and Southeast Asian Regions where our mutual network may be utilized for B2B connects & B2G facilitations as well as for collaborations for joint research funded by donor agencies. CCCI has been asked to let us know if this has their prima facie support, so that we can draft the initial plan and share the same with them.

• Apart from this, a visit to an apparel manufacturing company named R.S.B. Industrial Ltd was organized by CCCI.

On 19th February 2023, The Delegation had meeting with the following Ministers of Bangladesh :

• Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Hon’ble Minister of State, Information & Communication Technology Division, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology− The Hon’ble Minister advised us to organize a Tech Entrepreneurs’ Summit in Dhaka and subsequently in India where The Bengal Chamber may create a forum for facilitation of:

• Exchange programme of Tech Entrepreneurs
• B2B meetings
• Investor Connect Platform
• Similar other initiatives

We are already on the job will be sharing a detailed proposal with the office of the Minister with a formal request for partnership.

The Minister’s office has been requested to share information on investment opportunities in the technology space in Bangladesh which we shall circulate amongst our members for their information.

• Mr. Tipu Munshi, MP, Hon'ble Minister, Ministry of Commerce− The Hon’ble Minister has been briefed about the request The Bengal Chamber has made to The Chittagong Chamber of Commerce & Industry for sending us a recommendation on enhanced air connectivity from Chittagong to Kolkata and Agartala, which we shall take up with the concerned authorities in India.

We have also informed the Hon’ble Minister that we are also reaching out to the Chambers of Commerce in Chittagong and Dhaka for creating Help Desks for receiving queries on bilateral business issues, to which we shall respond appropriately on a case−to−case basis.

• Mr. Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Industries− The Hon’ble Minister has been informed about the numerous fruitful B2B dialogues with Chambers of Commerce, Industry Associations in Bangladesh. Our delegates have come back with several promising prospects, which shall be tracked by BCC&I.

Following the Hon’ble Minister’s advice, we had very rewarding meetings with BIDA and BEZA and those delegates who are keen to invest and/or initiate manufacturing activity in Bangladesh are in touch with these two bodies. We sincerely hope that the above efforts shall help to bolster the business and trade relationship between our two countries.

• Mr. Md. Tazul Islam, Honb'le Minister, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives− Discussions were held on the possibilities of collaboration with Government or businesses in Bangladesh in the areas of :
• Water testing and water treatment
• AI enabled bee corridor producing organic honey and enabling livelihood for local people
• Carbon sequestration in agriculture and creating carbon bank for alternative revenue generation for farmers

The Delegation had the following B2B Meetings with The Chamber of commerce in Dhaka :

• B2B Meetings with Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI)− Around 87 participants joined the meeting from Dhaka. B2B requests of all the delegates were covered. We also discussed about Help Desk which will be hosted on The Bengal Chamber website for receiving queries on bilateral business issues. DCCI has also been requested if a similar initiative can be undertaken at their end, following which we shall circulate it amongst our membership and stakeholders.

• B2B Meeting and Networking Lunch at The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI)− Metropolitan Chamber organized a networking lunch for our delegation. Their President and Senior Board Members were present. They also organized select B2B meetings for some of our delegates.

The Delegation also met the following Industry Associations and Government Agencies and had the following discussions as under :

• Mr. Lokman Hossain Miah, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA)− Excellent presentation was made on investment opportunities and manufacturing potential in Bangladesh. The queries from our delegates on retail, manufacturing, tourism and real estate were shared by the delegates. The representative of India help desk at BIDA was present at the meeting. The queries will be addressed on case−to−case basis.

• Mr. Shaikh Yusuf Harun, Chairman of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) − They essentially mentioned about the special economic zones− the infrastructure and benefits prevalent in Bangladesh. Certain technical aspects for initiating investments in such SEZ’s were enquired by some of our delegate members. Such queries will be separately addressed by nodal officers from their end.

• Engr. Mohd. Shohel Rana, Vice President, Finance, Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB)− Few of our relevant delegates met the VP Finance of REHAB. Potential partnership collaboration in terms of investment in Bangladesh and potential supply contract for such projects were the key areas of discussion.

• BASIS (Bangladesh Association for Software & Information Services)− We also had a good meeting with Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and discussed possible areas of collaboration like organizing joint programmes, training workshops and B2B facilitation.

Our delegates have come back with a number of promising prospects from Bangladesh in these 5 days business delegation, all of which we are working upon.