While Bangladesh continues to progress, its dreams of achieving an equitable, smart Bangladesh remain extremely ambitious; even the most fervent believers realize that, while middle-income status is indeed knocking at the doors, for Bangladesh to be able to beat the middle-income trap and become the prosperous nation it intends to become will be an extremely challenging task.
One avenue where we must continue to improve -- and improve significantly -- is in our ability to attract more investment. The government has indeed made strides and undertaken several initiatives, perhaps none more significant than the special economic zones across the country expecting to fetch additional export receipts of $40 billion per year by 2030 from these economic zones.
However, it is imperative that we ontinue to build the necessary relationships required for these economic zones to be used to their fullest potential.
To that end, news that businessmen of West Bengal have shown their interest to invest in the economic zones in Bangladesh is encouraging and is the sort of news that must become the norm moving forward. Many Indian conglomerates like Asian Paints and Marico have already invested in the economic zones in Bangladesh, but this should just be the tip of the iceberg of investments that we attract from India -- who have long arguably Bangladesh's strongest ally and right there to witness its transformation.
Make no mistake about it, Bangladesh will not reach its fullest potential as a nation, and will not become a developed economy, without foreign investment being a key pillar and being a significant contributor. For that to happen, we must continue to not only work to increase investment from all parts of Dhaka, but also with each and every nation on the planet -- so that we can truly become an investment haven.
