Staff Correspondent

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) is looking forward to work with Mozambique to enhance trade relations, investment, and cooperation between Bangladesh and Mozambique.

Both Bangladesh and Mozambique occupy a strategic position as business hubs and could benefit from a more robust trade and economic partnership, said a press release.

FBCCI Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu opined this while presiding over a discussion meeting with the Mozambique Business Delegation at the FBCCI.

Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu said, 'Our presence in Africa is mostly due to the large contribution of our peacekeeping forces. But now we are trying to increase business ties with the southern economic bloc by enhancing trade and investment.'

The FBCCI Senior-vice president said, Competitive strengths in apparel, leather goods, pharmaceuticals, frozen seafood, plastic products, ceramics, jute and leather products, ICT, FMCG, home appliances, and others are leading the way for business diversification. So, Bangladeshi investors may set up the mentioned industries in Mozambique and export the products to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the EU region by exploring the opportunities given to Mozambique, he noted.

Bangladeshi investors may also explore the opportunity to invest in the potential areas of Mozambique like- Agriculture equipment; Construction of roads, railways, Energy (coal, hydropower, gas, solar, wind, biomass); Fishing, and ICT, he mentioned.

FBCCI Vice-President M A Momen said that the Bangladesh government is looking forward to importing natural gas from abroad. "At the same time, as we're the second largest exporter of RMG, we have a huge demand for cotton. Therefore, there is an opportunity to import natural gas and cotton from Mozambique. We can also export RMG, IT, Medicine etc to them," he added.

The delegation was led by the Director General for Asia and Oceania of Mozambique Jose Matsinha. He said, 'there is huge potential in economic relations between Mozambique and Bangladesh. We're here in Bangladesh to see which area we both can work on.'

Jose Matsinha said, "We can get experience from Bangladesh in strategic areas with mutual interest. We have a large amount of land and plenty of water in Mozambique but we lack expertise. Bangladesh can help us in the agriculture sector.' He praised the Bangladeshi peacekeepers who worked in Mozambique."
High Commissioner of Mozambique to India Ermindo Ferreira, Director General for Africa Md Tarikul Islam, representative of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (of Mozambique) Jose Fernando Messias, Mozambican Investment and Export Promotion Agency Dique Francisco Bacar, FBCCI Directors Hasina Newaaz, M.G.R Nasir Majumder, Syed Moazzem Hossain, Bijoy Kumar Kejriwal, Hafez Harun, SM Shafiuzzaman, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman Patwari, Akkas Mahmood, Secretary General Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque and others were present at the meeting.