Dhaka, September 2:

The Dhabi Group of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to invest about $1 billion in the telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure sectors in Bangladesh. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the group and the Board of Investment here on Thursday evening, the daily New Age reported on Friday. According to the report, the group will prepare a detailed investment proposal within three months.

“We have come here to see economic development and there are many opportunities of investment,” the group’s Chairman and UAE Education Minister Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan was quoted as saying by the daily. Al Nahayan, who paid a courtesy call on prime minister Khaleda Zia, lauded her for “working hard to create an investment-friendly environment”. “We want to be part of development,” he said. Dhabi will invest over $500 million in the telecom sector, beginning with the commissioning of a project by next month, if the government issues a license immediately for mobile phone operations. It has already applied for GSM cellular license to operate mobile telephony on a countrywide basis.

Dhabi’s entry into the mobile sector will be followed by other ventures in the hotel industry, pharmaceuticals and financial sectors, said the group’s chief executive officer Bashir A Tahir. Tahir ruled out the possibility of difficulties in receiving regulatory support from the government. “These are mere formalities. Besides they (government authorities) are very cooperative,” he was quoted as saying.

The Dhabi group’s interests include real estate development and management, manufacturing, company representations, offshore drilling, banking and financial services.