Hifazat demands fundamentalism: German envoy
Famous German entrepreneur gave up investment plan because of red tape
German Ambassador Albrecht Conze sees 'fundamentalism' in Hifazat-e
Islam's 13-point charter of demand tat the the little-known group made
in a rally on Saturday, reports bdnews24.com.
He says, 'this is not the tradition of secular Bangladesh'.
"This
is a people's republic. This is not a religious republic like Iran," he
said on Monday speaking at a Bangladesh-German Chamber of Commerce and
Industries' (BGCCI) 'business lunch'.
The luncheon meeting was
organised to announce its partnership with the Messe Dusseldorf GmbH,
one of the largest trade fair orgainsers in the world.
The
Chittagong-based Hifazat has threatened to lay siege to Dhaka on May 5
if the government did not meet the demands that include banning women
appearing in public with men, a halt to setting up of statues in
educational institutions and roundabouts countrywide, and punishing what
they said atheist bloggers.
Referring to a German entrepreneur,
he said, one of their famous entrepreneurs 'tried for years to set up
something in Bangladesh and he has given up'.
"It's because of red tape."
Ambassador Conze said one needs 'a proactive stance' of making oneself 'attractive to foreign business'.
"Bangladesh has comparative advantages that many people are not aware of it in the west," he said.
The
Ambassador said Bangladesh 'cannot afford to lose the steady growth'.
To preserve the growth, he suggested going back to the constitution of
the country, and 'to the secret of success' that is 'secular
Bangladesh'.
The Ambassador said the interest about Bangladesh among German business community was 'between unchanged and growing'.
"It is certainly not decreasing."
He
talked about fire safety standards in the readymade garment industries
as he said Bangladesh's garment industry was on the way of becoming 'the
biggest garment exporter in the world'.
"So becoming the biggest
puts you to the spotlight and you must also become the best. Otherwise,
you will run into far too many problems in the future."
Talking
about the investment climate, he said there were 'too many lost
opportunities' for Bangladesh and to avail that, he suggested
'pro-active' role of Bangladesh government.
"Investment goes
where the conditions are interesting. Sometimes one must ask for
investment to come, one must lure in investment."
If a major
German car-producing company announces to the world that within the next
10 or 15 years, it will have 50 billion euros to spend on new
factories, what will a normal reaction of a country like Bangladesh be?
"The
Board of Investment would immediately look at that news, compose a
delegation and send the delegation immediately to the headquarters of
the company in Germany, trying to explain why Bangladesh is better place
than Myanmar, eastern India, maybe western Thailand."
He,
however, lamented that "the Board of Investment to the best of my
knowledge has not had such an idea, has not brought about such an
initiative and I think it's a lost opportunity."
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