Speakers in a virtual discussion on Thursday emphasized that Bangladesh has to invest more on infrastructure for potential halal business with the Middle Eastern region. The volume of the halal market is growing in the Middle East, Europe and American regions sharply but Bangladesh cannot develop halal business outreach due to limited infrastructure, they said. The discussion on “Shaping business landscape: economic cooperation of Middle East and Bangladesh” held on the 3rd day of ‘Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit 2021’ was jointly organized by Ministry of Commerce and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). Speaking as chief guest Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Mashiur Rahman said Bangladesh’s economic transformation is very fast, stable and steady. He termed the present time as very favourable to invest in the infrastructure sector in Bangladesh. “Sophisticated technological products, API and generic pharmaceutical, household electronic market are very potential sectors to invest in. To enter a market, it is essential to know the market first,” Mashiur said. He also underscored chamber to chamber relation to boost trade with other countries. DCCI President Rizwan Rahman in his brief presentation said that limited diversification of RMG and export products are challenges for export growth in the Middle Eastern countries. Read: ‘Bangladesh can be global leader of halal products’ Bangladesh imports 19 per cent of its required mineral resources from the Middle East. He also said unskilled labour is a challenge for manpower supply to the oil-rich region. He also said that economic diplomacy should be strengthened by Bangladesh to ensure labour supply to the Gulf countries. Middle Eastern countries can source diverse skilled and semi-skilled professionals in different sectors from Bangladesh to support their growing economic operations. He also said that the Middle Eastern market is still untapped for the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. UAE Acting Ambassador to Bangladesh Abdulla Ali Al-Hamoudi said collaboration and partnership will expand the bilateral trade. “We want to expand business, we want to deepen engagement through strategic partnership,” said the envoy. He said Bangladesh-UAE business council will be formed in near future to strengthen bilateral trade relation. Md. Fozlul Haque, Managing Director, Plummy Fashions Ltd. said UAE imports clothing worth of $2.5 billion every year and the GCC countries import clothing worth of $5.3 billion but Bangladesh share is less than 1 per cent. Read: UAE keen to import halal meat, fish from Bangladesh So, the Middle Eastern market is more or less untapped for Bangladesh, he said. Haque invited the Middle Eastern countries to import more from Bangladesh as there are more than 150 green factories here. Sulaiman Al Jedaie, Managing Director, Saudi Industrial Export Company said that they are interested to invest in the food processing sector in Bangladesh and export to Latin American and African markets. Shamim Ul Huq, Country Director, DP World, said that there are massive scope of increasing bilateral investment between the Middle East and Bangladesh. K Mahmood Sattar, Chairman, RSA Advisory and RSA Capital and Tajwar M Awal, Director, Lal Teer Seed Ltd, among others, took part in the discussion.