CCCI Japan Desk inaugurated

The opening ceremony of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Japan Desk was held at Bangabandhu Conference Hall World Trade Center on Wednesday.

Ito Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh, Hayakawa Yuho, Chief Representative, JICA Bangladesh, Mahbubul Alam, President, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Asif A Chowdhury, President, JBCCI, Kawai Hikari, President, Japan Chamber and Industry Association in Dhaka and Ando Yuji, Country Representative, JETRO, representing the respective governments/organisations attended the ceremony.

The Japan Desk is expected to contribute to solving investment issues that Japanese companies face and also attracting new Japanese investments by promoting the potential of the Chattogram region, including Matarbari and Mirsharai SEZs.

CCCI was established in 1906 and is one of the chambers to have the longest history in Bangladesh.

It is located in the largest trade port and it has approximately 8,000 member companies. There are sub- committees for import, export, taxation, shipping, etc in CCCI, and it engages in developing trading and commercial activities in Chittagong.

It is meaningful to have Japanese-specific window in CCCI in a sense that it will not only be of help to existing Japanese companies, but will also contribute greatly to promoting the expansion of new companies.

During the past 10 years before COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of export, FDI and the number of Japanese companies has increased about 2 times, more than 3 times and 4 times for each. The export amount has recovered from COVID-19 pandemic by about 10%.

In addition to development cooperation, the economic relationship between Japan and Bangladesh will become much stronger.

Against the backdrop, the Japan Desk will play an important role for further promoting Japanese companies’ activities in Bangladesh, especially in Chattogram.