President and Chief Executive Officer of the Excelerate Energy Steven Kobos on Tuesday said there has been a lot of interest in Bangladesh from American companies and his company has planned to invest more in the country's energy sector and decarbonisation. The company wants to scale up and ensure smooth supply of Liquefied Natural Gas to the country, he said. Kobos, also the chairman of the US-Bangladesh Business Council, hailed the Chief Adviser for assuming the leadership of the Interim Government, saying it will increase business confidence in Bangladesh. "There has been a lot of interest in Bangladesh from American companies since you took over," Kobos said, adding some of the top US companies, including members of the US-Bangladesh Business Council, were excited about business prospects in the South Asian country. Russian Ambassador, Foreign Adviser discuss strengthening ties in energy, trade, and food security Excelerate currently has investment in two offshore Floating Storage and Regasification Units in Bangladesh, which supply 1.1 billion cubic feet, accounting for some 34 percent of the country's daily gas supply. Prof Yunus welcomed more US investment in Bangladesh, saying his government has taken steps to attract foreign direct investment and improve the business climate in the country, according to CA’s press wing. "You have come at the right time here," Prof Yunus told Kobos and his business delegation. During his recent visit to the US, the Chief Adviser spoke at an event of the US-Bangladesh Business Council, inviting all its 50 members including some of the top American multinational firms, to invest in Bangladesh. In the meeting, Steven Kobos was accompanied by high officials of  Excelerate Energy, including Peter Haas, a former US ambassador to Bangladesh who recently joined Excelerate Energy as its Strategic Adviser, Derek Wong and Ramon Wangdi, vice presidents of the company, and Habib Bhuiyan, the country manager. Lamiya Morshed, senior secretary and the head of SDG Affairs, Ashik Chowdhury, chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and energy secretary Saiful Islam were also present during the meeting. Excelerate Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EE) is committed to being the global leader in flexible LNG infrastructure solutions and leveraging its unrivaled experience to help customers across the globe unlock access to abundant LNG supply.

Experts have urged the government to formulate a “fair and transparent policy” for Bangladesh’s energy sector to ensure energy rights for all the citizens of the country. “Access to energy is now a very important right of citizens. So, environmental safety has to be ensured in energy transactions,” said Dr M Shamsul Alam, an adviser of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB). He was addressing a views-exchange programme organized by CAB at the University of Science and Technology, Chattogram (USTC) on Saturday. Read: Deal signed to set up Bangladesh’s first-ever waste-to-energy project USTC Vice Chancellor Dr Jahangir Alam, Prof Dr Tanzim Uddin Khan of Dhaka University, and former dean of Social Sciences Faculty of Chattagram University Dr Hossain Kabir also spoke at the programme held with CAB vice president SM Nazer Hossain in the chair. Dr Shamsul Alam said an energy policy is needed to protect the interest of the people of the country, said a CAB media release.

Iranian Ambassador to Bangladesh Mohammad Reza Nafar has said Iran wants to engage deeply with Bangladesh in the energy sector and make the bilateral trade volume of several US$ billions noting that Bangladesh is going to emerge as a big economic force in the world, especially in the region.