Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser

 

Salman Fazlur Rahman, more prominently known as Salman F Rahman, currently serves as the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser in January 2019 with the rank and status of Cabinet Minister.

 

Since taking up the role as the Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser, this parliamentarian, elected from Dhaka-1 (Dohar and Nawabganj), has actively been working to establish an environment conducive to the growth of trade, business, and investment in the country.

He has significantly contributed to implementing various policy reforms to ensure greater participation of the private sector in the country’s economy. He is also leading the government’s initiative to improve Bangladesh’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

Salman F Rahman has focused on increasing domestic and foreign investment as well as creating entrepreneurs since taking charge as Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser. In 2020, he played an important role in introducing financial incentives for large, small, and medium industries, formulation of necessary policies during the Coronavirus crisis, and maintaining constant communication with the business community.

He attended the Asian Financial Forum held in Hong Kong in 2020. He represented Bangladesh at the event that featured more than 130 internationally revered speakers as the world’s economic and business communities gathered to discuss the dynamics and development of Asian markets. He inaugurated the Trade and investment exhibition fair -- Made in Bangladesh -- in Qatar. He delivered a talk on the TEDx Talks platform about the prospects of IT freelancing in Bangladesh. He also met with Japanese business representatives and urged them to invest in Bangladesh.

The following year 2021, which was challenging for Bangladesh in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, domestic and foreign investment was required to keep the country’s economy going. With that in mind, Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman worked tirelessly to attract investment throughout the year. He played a leading role in attracting foreign investment by organizing tours and roadshows in various countries. As a result, several business agreements were inked during his visits to Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, and fruitful discussions were held to improve the trade ties between the two countries. Arrangements were made to import cotton, a key raw material for the garment industry, from Uzbekistan on easy terms. Besides, road shows were organized in the UAE, the USA, and the UK. Investment proposals of $50 crore came from the Dubai road show, while Tk255 crore investment proposals were secured from the US roadshow. At the end of the year, the International Investment Conference 2021 was organized in Dhaka, and Bangladesh received investment proposals of $5 billion from this two-day conference. Salman F Rahman also participated in the fourth Bangladesh-Japan joint PPP platform meeting, where Japanese company Mitsubishi expressed interest in the development of Shahjalal International Airport.

During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to the UAE in March 2022, several MoUs were signed between the two countries. During the Prime Minister’s visit, BIDA, BSEC, and Dubai Bangladesh Business Council jointly organized an Investment First Route Networking Dinner in Dubai, where the Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser presented the investment roadmap in Bangladesh. At the networking dinner, he assured full support and cooperation to the UAE investors in investing in Bangladesh.

To attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) to Bangladesh, a trade delegation from Bangladesh is scheduled to visit Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, the Benelux Union, in December 2022. The visiting delegation will be led by Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman. The delegation will work on attracting investment in the promising sectors of Bangladesh as well as promoting Bangladeshi products and services in the European market.