Danish ambassador to Bangladesh Christian Brix Moller has said that Denmark was committed to supporting Bangladesh’s sustainable economic growth, particularly through partnerships in renewable energy, shipping and logistics.
‘Bangladesh offers enormous untapped potential. But to realise those potentials, foreign investors need to be attracted by providing a conducive business environment,’ said the ambassador while speaking at a panel session.
In celebration of UNESCO´s recognition of Copenhagen as the World Capital of Architecture, the Embassy of Denmark hosted a three-day exhibition that ended on Thursday at Dhaka´s Edge Gallery.
This recognition was awarded due to Copenhagen´s strong legacy within architecture and innovative urban development, along with its high ambitions on climate, sustainable solutions, and liveability.
The exhibition was coupled with the Embassy´s flagship ´Greener Partnerships´ knowledge networking event, which delved into the business and investment climate in ´Bangladesh 2.0´; partnerships in the agrarian economy through efficient ways of reduction of food loss; and the way forward to sustainable production.
The first panel session on Building Bangladesh 2.0 through Sustainable Investment had speakers from Centre for Policy Dialogue), Mærsk Group as well as Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Copenhagen Offshore Partners.
In her keynote, Fahmida Khatun, executive director, CPD emphasised the need for green business that is commercially viable, a proper plan for phase out from fossil fuel subsidies and transitioning towards an integrated development model driven by green investments.
A second panel session on Sustainable Food Production and Effective Loss Reduction with representatives from IFC, World Bank Group, Arla Foods Bangladesh, Square Group and the Embassy of Denmark identified ways to reduce food waste and loss through collaboration and awareness across the value chain.
The three day-long event concluded with a third panel session on Sustainable Production to understand the current challenges in gaining global competitiveness for Bangladesh and how Denmark can assist in paving the way towards a sustainable production hub.
The panel included industry experts from CPD, Better Work – ILO, Shasha Denims Limited, Auko-Tex Group and Bestseller.
Denmark is actively collaborating with Bangladesh on innovative approaches to develop sustainable value chains, greener infrastructure, industrial de-carbonization and accelerating mobilization of new sustainable investments to bring modern technology and skills, said the embassy.
‘The right combination of technologies, knowledge transfer, and capacity building helps foster innovation. Denmark, pioneering in green economic growth, is well positioned to become a knowledge partner for Bangladesh on its journey towards sustainability´ said Ali Butt, head of trade at the Embassy of Denmark.