, May 4 -- Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Monday directed the authorities concerned to simplify the project approval process to attract both local and foreign investment.

He also assured necessary support for investors willing to invest in long-closed state-owned factories, said a press release issued by the Prime Minister's press wing.

The directives came at a two-hour-long meeting beginning at 10:30am at the Prime Minister's Office in the Bangladesh Secretariat, where the current condition of closed factories in the textiles and jute sector and the next steps were discussed.

The Prime Minister said the government is committed to creating an investment-friendly environment and stressed the need to remove existing complexities in the...