Tata Group wants fresh talks on investments in Bangladesh

Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 19:30 IST
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Dhaka: India's Tata Group expects to revive talks on the proposed $3 billion investments in Bangladesh. "A lot of things have changed in the last two years," Tata's Bangladesh project director Syed Manzer Hussain said in response to media queries after his courtesy call on Commerce and Education Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman Tuesday. The New Age newspaper Wednesday quoted Rahman as welcoming Tata's interest in investing in Bangladesh. But he said: "In a professional negotiation, we will uphold hundred percent our national interests and everything will be settled after professional analysis." Tata showed interest in investing in steel, fertilizer, power and coal mining sectors of Bangladesh, making proposals worth $3 billion, the highest Bangladesh has received from anywhere, when Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata visited Dhaka in 2003. After months of prolonged negotiations, the government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia put the project on hold saying they were "politically sensitive" and could not be taken up when the country was scheduled to go for elections. The negotiation was supposed to be resumed in 2007 when Tata executives, particularly Manzer, met a number of advisers to the interim government. But the government pushed the issue into limbo.
Source: IANS