Big French companies likely to invest: French minister
Big French companies likely to invest: French minister
New Age -Diplomatic Correspondent
Big French investors are likely to make more investments in social businesses along with other businesses in Bangladesh to enable it to fight poverty as the political situation and the conditions for attracting foreign investment are good, said the French minister, Martin Hirsch, in Dhaka on Monday.
‘About 20 French companies are planning to invest in social and other businesses abroad. They think that it will be easy to work in Bangladesh after the installation of a democratically elected government,’ Martin Hirsch told reporters on Monday before his departure from Dhaka after a three-day visit.
He hoped that many projects could be launched in Bangladesh because of the new situation. ‘We are very open and want to deepen relations with Bangladesh.’
French company Veolia, working in the water purification sector, is now operating in Bangladesh, while Essilor, second largest producer of spectacle glasses in the world, is also willing to come to this country, he said.
Hirsch said he was impressed by the quality of the programmes supported by the Grameen Group and French food company Danone.
Danone, in collaboration with Grameen Group, set up a project for producing nutritious yoghurt named Shokti Doi in Bogra in 2008.
He said he was impressed by the quality of the micro-credit programmes here and told reporters that Professor Yunus would visit France next February. France is willing to be a staunch partner of Bangladesh and help it to alleviate poverty and improve the people’s lot by bringing about the required changes, he said.
The partnership between the non-government organisations and business companies is new in France, he added.
The French minister met Grameen Bank’s chief Muhammad Yunus, education minister Nurul Islam Naheed and social welfare minister Enamul Huq Mostafa Shaheed before holding the newsbriefing at the French ambassador’s residence prior to his departure.
French ambassador Charley Causeret, who was also present at the briefing, said that Bangladesh and France need to improve their relations at the political level.
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/dec/15/front.html#14
