PM Hasina seeks Swiss investment in Bangladesh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged Swiss entrepreneurs to make investments in the special economic zones (SEZs) of Bangladesh, saying her government wants to develop a broad-based partnership.

"We will provide lands (in SEZs). They (Swiss entrepreneurs) can make a mini Switzerland in Bangladesh," she said when Swiss Ambassador Reto Siegfried Renggli paid a courtesy call on her at her office.

Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters on the meeting afterwards.

"We look forward to transforming Bangladesh-Switzerland relations into a broad-based partnership," Karim quoted the premier as saying.

According to Karim, the envoy said Swiss companies are also interested in investing in Bangladesh.

Mentioning that the volume of trade between Bangladesh and Switzerland should increase, he said he will continue to work to further strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation.

He appreciated the economic development of Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the last decade.

The envoy also said Switzerland will work together with Bangladesh to fight the adverse impacts of climate change.

The prime minister said the focus of her government is on the development of the rural people of Bangladesh.

"The backbone of development are the middle-class people," she said, adding that her government is undertaking many programs to cut the extreme poverty rate to zero, or at least 1%.

She mentioned that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had a vision to "make Bangladesh the Switzerland of the East.”

Sheikh Hasina recalled that she was with Bangabandhu when he visited Switzerland at the invitation of the Swiss government after undergoing surgery in London.

Talking about connectivity, she said her government is developing Dhaka airport so Bangladesh can bridge the East and West.

The premier assured the ambassador of extending all necessary cooperation in discharging his duties in Dhaka.

The envoy handed over a letter to Sheikh Hasina, which Bangabandhu had sent to the Swiss government in response to Switzerland's recognition of Bangladesh as an independent country.

Upon receiving the letter, the prime minister said it will be kept in a museum.

Source: BSS