Bangladesh is prioritising foreign direct investment (FDI) and joint ventures to tap its massive, unutilised deep-sea marine resources centring on the Matarbari strategic business hub, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun said on Monday.
Addressing a seminar titled "Investment Potential in Fisheries and Marine Economy in Bangladesh", he said due to a lack of industrial capacity, hundreds of kilometres in the country's deep-sea areas remain out of economic activity. In the absence of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, neighbouring nations are harvesting valuable tuna and other high-value fish from the Bay of Bengal.
Speaking as the chief guest at the seminar organised by the Moheshkhali Integrated Development Authority (MIDA) in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at a city hotel, the BIDA executive chairman said as local entrepreneurs currently lack the capacity for deep-sea fishing, the government is prioritising foreign direct investment in collaboration with local businesses.
He revealed that a Japanese company has already applied for permission to conduct fishing and economic activities in these deep-sea zones, opening up immense opportunities to earn foreign currency through marine exports.
Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Dhaka Takahashi Naoki and Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Takahashi Junko made special remarks at the event.
Naoki emphasised that Japan, through JICA, is actively promoting public and private sector investments in Bangladesh's marine economy, including a flagship support programme at the Matarbari deep-sea port to assist the coastal fishing communities in Cox's Bazar.
Former secretary of the Maritime Affairs Unit Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam noted that MIDA is a visionary government programme designed to transform Moheshkhali and Matarbari into a multi-dimensional business hub for energy, supply chains, aquaculture, seafood processing, mariculture, and deep-sea fishing.
The seminar highlighted four crucial sectors primed for scalable investment to unlock Bangladesh’s marine potential.
The first sector identified was deep-sea fishing. The country’s offshore waters contain vast fish resources, including commercial Yellowfin and Skipjack tuna. Capitalising on this requires deployment of industrial longliner fleets, deep-sea port facilities, and an enabling regulatory framework.
Another one was mariculture and seaweed, given that Bangladesh’s coastal ecology is highly suitable for commercial seaweed, finfish, and shellfish farming.
Aquaculture and shrimp industry were the third. As the country's second-largest export commodity, the shrimp sector needs species diversification and strict certification compliance to successfully shift from volume-driven output to premium global markets.
Seafood processing was the fourth sector highlighted, which demands major investment to establish modern processing plants, integrated cold chains, and preservation technologies that meet strict international market standards to minimise value-chain gaps.
Further more, according to technical presentations, establishing a standard commercial fleet of 10 modern longliner vessels requires an estimated investment of Tk150 crore per vessel, but yields a lucrative 37 percent net profit margin and a five-year payback period.
Sector visions project that deploying 25 to 50 vessels could generate millions of dollars annually in seafood exports by 2035.
Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Delwar Hossain stated that the ministry is fully committed to transforming the Matarbari corridor into a flourishing marine economy hub by establishing direct trade connections with premium global markets.
The seminar featured several specialised keynote presentations by JICA Fisheries Expert Dr Echigo Manabu, MIDA Member (Marine Affairs) Commodore Tanzim Faruq, ACI Agrolink Business Director Syed M Istiak and Department of Fisheries Researcher Dr Tanvir Hossain Chowdhury.