The government plans to transform idle and loss-making state-owned industrial establishments into investment and employment hubs within the next one to two years, Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir has said.
The minister announced the initiative while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the Dhaka Industrial Packaging Expo 2026 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital on Thursday.
“Our goal is to transform these idle industrial establishments into investment and employment hubs within the next one to two years,” Muktadir said.
“Somewhere there will be modernisation, somewhere new industries will be set up, and again somewhere opportunities for export-oriented production will be created,” he added.
The commerce minister said the government is gradually opening up these industrial establishments for private investment in phases to bring their vast land and resources under production, export and new employment generation.
He noted that about 40 industrial establishments under the Ministry of Industries and another approximately 50 under the textile and jute sector have been idle or loss-making for years.
Citing the example of the country’s sugar mills, Muktadir said each sugar mill is established on an average of one thousand bighas or more of land. If modern industrial parks or multi-purpose industrial establishments are set up on these sites, huge investment, employment and revenue generation would be possible, he added.
The minister said to transform Bangladesh into a competitive economy, it is necessary to reduce business complexity, lower logistics costs, increase port efficiency and ensure effective utilisation of idle state assets.
He said entrepreneurs currently need to obtain around 25 to 26 types of approvals and licences to start a business in the country, which has made the business environment complex. The government has taken initiatives to simplify the business startup process, he added.
Muktadir said that in the future, once registration is completed through BIDA or the relevant authority, entrepreneurs will receive “provisional clearance” initially, allowing them to commence operations quickly.
The commerce minister said Bangladesh’s current logistics cost is about 16 percent of GDP, whereas the global average is about 10 percent.
Due to a lack of efficiency in port management, transportation costs are rising and Bangladesh is falling behind in international competition, he commented.
To address this situation, internationally recognised foreign operators are being brought in, the minister said. A Danish company has already started operating a container terminal, and more international standard organisations will be involved in port operations in the future.
Highlighting the potential of the packaging industry, the commerce minister said the global packaging industry market is huge and Bangladesh must move forward with big goals in this sector.
“You cannot reach a big place by thinking small,” he said.
The government will provide policy and institutional support, but entrepreneurs themselves must generate industry growth, he added.
Special guest at the event was Mohammad Hasan Arif, Vice Chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau. Entrepreneurs, business leaders, representatives of various organisations and domestic and international stakeholders were present.
