As the domestic market fails to meet the demand for yarn and fabrics, investment is required to set up spinning, weaving, knitting and knit-dying plants and woven fabric-processing units, the minister added.

The minister was speaking at the inaugural function of 'The 2nd Dhaka International Textile and Garment Exhibition' at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka. Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) organised the five-day show in co-operation with ES Event Management SDN, BHD, Malaysia to showcase a wide variety of garment and textile machinery of some 229 exhibitors in 325 booths.

BTMA Chairman MA Awal said as Bangladesh maintains liberal policy, the country can be a potential destination for foreign direct investment (FDI)in the textile sector.

"Exposition of this type will always create new avenues for our entrepreneurs to rediscover their potential to go for new ventures," he added.

Speaking at the function, Board of Investment (BoI) Executive Chairman Mahmudur Rahman said Bangladesh is definitely moving forward, specially the textile sector, despite difficulties and challenges of post-MFA era.

"In the fist eight months of the current fiscal year, domestic entrepreneurs invested $600 million in the textile sector while it was $350 million during the same period of the last fiscal," he said.

"The textile sector also attracted $70 million FDI in the first eight months of the current fiscal year while the figure was only $20 million in the last corresponding year," Rahman added.

Among others, Chong Chong Tik, managing director of ES Event Management, spoke at the function.

Exhibitors from the USA, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Turkey, the UK, Spain, Belgium, Canada and Taiwan are taking part in the show, which will remain open to all from 11am to 7pm until Saturday.