Staff Correspondent

The United Kingdom (UK) today expressed its keen interest in helping Bangladesh reform its banking and revenue sectors alongside the capital market.

The interest surfaced as the UK High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke called on the Finance Adviser to the interim government Dr Salehuddin Ahmed at his Economic Relations Division (ERD) office in the city.

After the meeting, the finance adviser said the UK is willing to help Bangladesh reform sectors like banking, revenue and capital markets.

"Those are very immediate concerns for us also. Because, unless we carry out those reforms it would be difficult for us," he told reporters after the meeting.

The adviser said they have discussed the enhancement of trade and commerce between the two countries.

"We want trade and commerce should flourish. The UK government was very helpful in the past and I hope that they will be helpful in the coming days as well. We are looking forward to their help and cooperation," he said.

The finance adviser and the British envoy also discussed the cooperation between Bangladesh and the UK.

Dr Salehuddin mentioned that the UK is working mainly on economic development and women's empowerment, adding, "We will continue those as well. Private sector investment is also very much important. Big business houses of Britain have invested here," he added.

The adviser said that he told them to diversify the import items from Bangladesh as his country mainly exports RMG items to the UK and European countries.

He also said that Bangladesh will have to improve the business environment to attract more private investment.

"For that, the condition is to make a business environment, ease doing business that means we have to fix the climate of doing business, otherwise private sector will not come," he said.

Mentioning that the discussion was very fruitful, the British high commissioner said the UK and Bangladesh had very strong economic, trade and investment relations.

"We're very keen to expand our trade and investment ties and we also discussed how the UK can support the economic reforms in Bangladesh that the adviser is leading and how we may jointly work to bring our experts together to discuss the issues of economic reform and also how we can boost our trade and investment ties between the two countries,"

Responding to a question on mobilizing more FDI from the UK, she said that the UK has a very strong partnership with Bangladesh.

"We have a very strong and investment environment. Of course, we would like to see more FDI in Bangladesh," she added.

The envoy said the British investors for sure are responsible investors, adding, "I discussed with the adviser how we can build investors' confidence and strengthen our trade and investment ties."

Replying to another question, Sarah Cooke said she also discussed the economic reforms that Bangladesh was prioritizing and how the UK can support Bangladesh in this regard.