Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL) hosted a roundtable at its head office in Dhaka last Thursday.
The roundtable brought together the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Norway’s development finance institution (Norfund) and a selected group of sponsors of bankable renewable energy projects to explore strategic partnership opportunities supporting Bangladesh’s renewable energy transition.
HE Håkon Arald Gulbrandsen, ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Bangladesh, attended the roundtable as the chief guest, reads a press release.
Also present were Bayzid Muntasir Sayeed, economic affairs and trade advisor at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, and Razi Amin, partner at ASPEN Capital Solutions LLC, who serves as an advisor to Norfund and the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
The session was chaired by Alamgir Morshed, managing director of IDCOL, and moderated by Nazmul Haque, chief investment officer of IDCOL.
In his welcome address, Haque highlighted that Bangladesh’s renewable energy transition would require long-tenor, patient capital aligned with the mandates of development finance institutions such as Norfund.
Following his remarks, Md Enamul Karim Pavel, head of Renewable Energy at IDCOL, presented an overview of Bangladesh’s renewable energy landscape and future outlook.
Razi later briefed participants on Norfund’s investment interest in Bangladesh, focusing on strategic equity participation in bankable renewable energy projects. His presentation was followed by supporting remarks from the Ambassador and Sayeed.
The session concluded with an interactive discussion between participating project sponsors and the Norfund delegation.
In his closing remarks, Morshed noted that the roundtable coincided with IDCOL’s 29th founding anniversary.
He also reaffirmed IDCOL’s readiness to facilitate similar engagements between credible international development finance partners and Bangladesh’s project sponsors through its specialised advisory services.
Norfund’s investment team is expected to hold one-to-one meetings with selected project sponsors in the next phase of engagement.
