"He (Tong) hoped that the conference could send a positive signal to Singaporean businessmen and investors," a Bangladesh High Commission press release said here referring to his talks with Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman a day after the investors conference.

Tong, who is scheduled to visit Bangladesh next month, added that the two countries currently enjoyed excellent relations.

Meanwhile, the Singaporean press yesterday highlighted the conference with leading The Straits Times in an editorial comment saying, "It's time to look beyond India. Bangladesh is positioning itself as a new haven for investments".

Saifur, who came here on Thursday to address the investors conference to woo the Singaporean entrepreneurs, said a number of Singaporean investors and businessmen showed keen interest to invest in Bangladesh.

He also apprised the Singa-porean premier of the policies and programmes of the government particularly to fight poverty, empower women and promote education.

The investors conference was jointly organised by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) and Singapore Manu-facturers' Federation in collaboration with the International Enterprise (IE Singapore), the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) and the Bangladesh High Commission in Singapore.

The finance minister spoke at the conference as the chief guest telling the Singaporean businessmen that Bangladesh is a potential market of 142 million people.

The huge consumer market and cheap labour cost and hard working labour force should attract Singaporean investment in Bangladesh, he said.

Saifur also highlighted various reforms undertaken by the government to create a highly investor-friendly environment in Bangladesh, saying the investment and trade related policies of Bangladesh are liberal, private sector-friendly and is by far the best available in South Asia region.

He also pointed out that the government of Bangladesh is pursuing a private sector-led growth of the national economy as well as encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI) which are protected by laws.

Kutubuddin Ahmed, president of MCCI, Lew Syn Pau, president of SMA, and Bangladesh High Commissioner to Singapore Munshi Faiz Ahmad also addressed the conference.

Mahmudur Rahman, executive chairman of Board of Investment (BoI), and Debapriya Bhattacharya of Centre for Policy Dialogue were main speakers who highlighted investment scenario in Bangladesh and Bangladesh's macro-economic scenario.