The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and Swisscontact have formalized a strategic partnership through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at BIDA’s headquarters in Agargaon, Dhaka — signaling a new chapter in efforts to accelerate sustainable and inclusive economic growth across Bangladesh.

This collaboration underscores a shared commitment to strengthening the country’s investment ecosystem by improving regulatory efficiency, enhancing institutional capacity, and creating a business environment that attracts both domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI).

BIDA has been at the forefront of investment facilitation reforms — from digitization and inter-agency coordination to the development of Bangladesh’s Investment Heat Map, which identifies key growth sectors and regional opportunities. Building on the success of earlier Swisscontact–BIDA initiatives (July 2023–December 2024) that boosted competitiveness in secondary cities, this new national initiative expands the scope to policy diagnostics, investor facilitation, and targeted sector development.

The MoU reflects BIDA’s ongoing transformation into an “investor-first” institution, guided by data analytics and international best practices. It aims to advance three core objectives:

1. Evidence-driven investment climate diagnostics and coordination — enabling policy coherence and reform prioritization.
2. Strengthening BIDA as a globally competitive Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) — through capacity development and performance benchmarking.
3. Sector-specific investment promotion and backward linkage development — targeting high-potential industries that can integrate Bangladesh into global value chains.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, Executive Chairman (State Minister) of BIDA, emphasized that the partnership demonstrates Bangladesh’s readiness to compete globally:

“Our goal is to ensure that investors — local and international — experience Bangladesh as a seamless, efficient, and opportunity-rich destination.”

For Swisscontact, this partnership reinforces its mission to foster sustainable private sector growth through improved governance, innovation, and inclusive employment — particularly for youth and women.

As Bangladesh aspires to attract quality FDI and scale industrial diversification, the BIDA-Swisscontact partnership represents a pivotal step toward building a data-driven, globally credible investment climate that balances growth with sustainability and long-term competitiveness.