Bangladesh, which celebrated its 50th birthday recently, is all set to launch a massive exercise aiming to rebrand itself on the global fora to woo investors.

According to reports, an inter-ministerial meeting of the committee on ‘Branding Bangladesh Abroad’ was held last Sunday. An export driven economy, Bangladesh is now actively redrawing its plans as it looks to exit the least developed countries (LDC) list by 2026 and attract foreign direct investment.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen were present at the meeting, among others, the Financial Express said in a report.

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The foreign affairs ministry has assured full support for the rebranding exercise.

The Sheikh Hasina administration is also looking to offer a host of incentives to foreign investors. From being one of the poorest nations at birth in 1971 with per capita GDP tenth lowest in the world, Bangladesh reached lower-middle-income status in 2015, the World Bank in its country report said.

The report also said that as the country now shifts gears amid challenges brought about by the Covid 19 pandemic, development priorities must be given to diversification of exports beyond the ready-made garment (RMG) sector. Deepening the financial sector; making urbanization more sustainable and strengthening public institutions and addressing infrastructure gaps would be the thrust areas, it said.

Meanwhile, earlier, India’s Ambassador to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami said that FDI from India into the South Asian nation is estimated at over $3 billion. “The investment of Indian companies in Bangladesh is increasing. If you observe, the companies that have already invested in the country, they are reinvesting," he had said.