The Minister Counselor and Head of the Economic and Commercial Office of Romania Ionut Viziru visited the Gulshan office of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Dhaka on June 1.
According to a press release, MCCI President Md Saiful Islam, Rubaiyat Jamil, a director of MCCI along with Masud Khan, deputy managing director, Mir Shamayal Hassan, director of marketing, M Fakhruzzaman, head of Logistics and Biprajit Kumar Sharma DGM- Logistics of Cosmos Group were present during the meeting.
The MCCI team led by its President discussed with the Minister Counselor the ways to increase trade and investment between the two countries and other issues of mutual interest.
Both parties agreed to support and work together in that regard.
During the discussion, the Minister-Counselor informed that Romania is going to hire one hundred thousand skilled and semi-skilled workers from abroad. In this context, the President requested them to hire at least 20% of the aforementioned workers from Bangladesh.
In this context, the Minister-Counselor shared that a temporary consulate was opened in Bangladesh to facilitate hiring workers.
A camp office could also be opened in this regard if required to expedite the visa and others.
The MCCI President spoke about the importance of utilizing the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between Bangladesh and Romania.
He also urged the delegation to invest in the Economic Processing Zones (EPZs) in Bangladesh.
The MCCI President requested the Minister-Counselor to initiate joint ventures with Bangladesh to revive the Romanian shipbuilding industry.
He also urged them to work together with Bangladesh on the processing of halal beef. He then stated that there were many types of machinery in Romania, particularly generators that could be overhauled in Bangladesh and then re-exported.
Bangladesh could also outsource automobile components. He further suggested that as one of the largest exporters of wheat, Romania could contact the policymakers of Bangladesh so that the food security could be addressed.
The MCCI president then pointed out to export products from some sectors along with the RMG sector such as food processing, pharmaceuticals, leather goods etc., to Romania for export diversification. Moreover, Romanian investment would be appreciated in IT, automobile industry, light engineering and agricultural sectors in Bangladesh for technical collaboration and efficiency improvement.
He further opined that taking advantage of the definition of rules of origin could be of mutual benefit. He further requested the minister-counsellor to allow Bangladeshi companies to set up warehouses in Romania.
The MCCI President then requested the Minister Counselor for support from Romania for Bangladesh at the European Council to extend the preferential treatment under the EBA without arms for a reasonable period after the LDC graduation.
The Minister-Counselor stated that there could be partnerships between Bangladesh and Romania in the sectors like renewable energy, power, IT, roads and highway, dairy etc. He also emphasized bringing Romanian business delegations to Bangladesh and invited business delegations from Bangladesh to visit Romania to strengthen bilateral trade between the two countries.
