GUWAHATI, March 6 — In what should sound as a very welcome development to prospective investors, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has evinced keen interest to finance viable and feasible projects in the State and the North-east. “The North-east has the scope to develop and do well in different fields, and especially in the power sector, its potential is immense and we will definitely welcome any proposal for consideration, IFC Country Manager Hafeezuddin Ahmad who is based at Dhaka, told The Assam Tribune here today.
“We have, in fact, received quite a few proposals so far out of which two in the general manufacturing sector are under the process of active consideration,” Ahmad said. He was also of the view that while general power plants may take some more time, captive power plants had much more scope here. Underscoring the importance of facilitating formal trade between the North-east and Bangladesh, Ahmad said the benefits that the two sides stand to gain by opening up border trade could uplift their economy considerably.
The 90 per cent common border between the two sides creates a natural environment for trade, and exchange of information and knowledge about the demand and availability of the products with each other, he said. Despite the fact that out of the 33 border crossings only 15 are working and also that the border roads and areas are quite undeveloped, the volume of informal trade between the two regions is huge and formalising this can only mean gains for both, Ahmad observed.
Recently, South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF), an agency funded and promoted by the IFC and other donors, conducted studies on bilateral trade between Bangladesh and the North-east which pointed out to the need for opening up more border points for trade. SEDF has also signed an MoU with the North East Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NECCI) to create awareness about the potential for trade between the two countries. On the other side of the border, it is supporting the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), the largest trade body in Bangladesh, to promote bilateral trade.
Anil Sinha, General Manager of SEDF, felt that bilateral trade was vital for the growth of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in both the countries as “it will expand markets for them.” Indicating that they were having discussion with FINER, the other leading chamber in the North-east, to promote SMEs and trade through proper road network, Sinha said issues relating to how to improve access to finance and the problems that SMEs face while accessing finance also came up for discussion.
SEDF has also entered into MoUs with two leading development and financial institutions of the North-east NEDFi and SIDBI under which the SEDF will provide technical assistance to the entrepreneurs seeking loans from NEDFi and SIDBI. Sinha explained that technical assistance like technology transfer, preparation of business plans, international marketing support will be provided by SEDF, and funds by NEDFi or SIDBI.
SEDF will adopt a sub-sectoral approach, particularly in silk (muga) and food-processing sectors in order to increase demand for loans and improve the quality of portfolio of banks, Sinha revealed, and added that for new designs and new products, consultancy support needs to be developed, so that SMEs can directly get access to support of consultancy services. The four main objectives of SEDF, Sinha said, are to increase access to finance to SMEs, increase access to business development services, ensuring a better business environment, and sub-sectoral focus development.