Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday called for foreign and local investment in extracting marine resources in the vast sea areas of Bangladesh.

‘We will make the blue economy stronger by ensuring multifaceted use of the sea resources. So, I call upon the local and foreign investors to invest in Bangladesh as we can extract more marine resources,’ she said.

The PM said this while inaugurating Bangladesh International Aquaculture and Seafood Show-2024 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.

She also asked all concerned to take effective measures to maintain due standard in collection, distribution and processing of the fishes to increase its export, as the fish will be the Bangladesh’s second largest foreign currency earning sector.

The prime minister said that her government had done a little in collecting fishes and other sea resources in deep sea as the local investors did not show interest to this end.

‘So, we need foreign investment in this connection. This is the reality,’ she said.

She opined that the local and foreign investors can invest in joint collaboration or separately in the sector.

Sheikh Hasina said that her government had achieved a vast sea area through legal battle with neighbouring India and Myanmar following the footsteps of the Father of the Nation.

‘We have huge sea resources. So, we have to give due attention as the vast marine resources can contribute properly to our economy,’ she said.

The PM said her government has attached priorities on extracting mineral resources that include gas and oil alongside fish from the deep sea.

She said that it was necessary to increase the production of seafood including fish, seaweeds, snail and oysters as the demand of seafood and aquaculture is increasing day by day across the globe.

‘If we can maintain global standard in collecting and processing the seafood, we can export those more,’ she said.

Mentioning that fishes are the safest sources of protein and people are leaning to fishes, she said her government has set a target to produce 85 lakh metric tonnes of fishes by 2041.

The prime minister called upon the youth folk both male and female to pay more attention to fish production as Bangladesh has many rivers, khals, beels and vast sea areas.

‘We want our young generation will further come in production, collection and processing of the fishes,’ she said.

The prime minister said that researches were going on to include local species of fish alongside Hilsha and lobster in the export basket.

She, however, stressed the need for maintaining global standard in production, collection and export of fishes.

To support flourishing the fisheries, she said her government has given Taka 40 crore separately for the fish traders.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdur Rahman, MP, the ministry’s Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairman, SM Rezaul Karim, Managing Director of Germany based Planquadrat, Martin Geskes and President of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association, Kazi Belayet Hossain, spoke at the function.

Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Syed Mahmud Belal Haider gave the address of welcome.

An audio-visual presentation on the overall development of the fisheries and livestock was screened.