Bangladesh missed Samsung investment in 2013; Vietnam now exports $57bn in Samsung products annually: KBAA president

Bangladesh missed an opportunity to attract investment from South Korean technology giant Samsung in 2013, while Vietnam has since emerged as a major manufacturing and export base for the company, said Md Saifullah Panna, president of the Koica Bangladesh Alumni Association (KBAA).

“Samsung came to Bangladesh in 2013 with an investment proposal, but we failed to attract the investment. The company subsequently shifted its investment to Vietnam,” Saifullah, also secretary (attached) at the Ministry of Public Administration, said at the Koica Bangladesh Alumni Night 2026 at a Dhaka hotel on Thursday (8 October).

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) organised the event in collaboration with KBAA.

Saifullah said Bangladesh missed a major opportunity. “We missed a great train.”

“If Samsung had set up its operations in Bangladesh, our economy and everything else would have changed,” Saifullah said.

“We warmly welcome Korean investment. Please invest in Bangladesh,” he added.

Samsung has become one of Vietnam’s major exporters, with the company’s exports from the country exceeding $57 billion in 2025, according to Vietnamese government news reports.

The figure refers to Samsung’s exports from Vietnam, not Vietnam’s total exports.

State Minister for Planning Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki, who attended the event as the chief guest, expressed hope that Bangladesh would attract more South Korean investment.

“We hope that the opportunities we missed in the case of Samsung will materialise through other investments in the future,” he said.

Koica Bangladesh Country Director Jihoon Kim said the development partnership between Bangladesh and South Korea extends beyond individual training programmes, with alumni playing an important role in broadening the impact of bilateral cooperation.