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No more extension for Accord, Alliance

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No more extension for Accord, Alliance

Says state minister for labour

Star Business Report

  • The Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) is capable of running the inspection and monitoring of workplace safety in the garment sector

The government will not extend the tenure of Accord and Alliance as the Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) is capable of running inspection and monitoring of workplace safety in garment factories, said state minister for labour and employment.

In May last year, the RCC was set up through the collaboration of the Bangladesh government, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, and the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, with technical support from International Labour Organisation.

“I can challenge that the RCC is very much capable of monitoring the progress of the remediation of factory buildings,” said Md Mujibul Haque.

He spoke at a media briefing at the Hotel Purbani in Dhaka yesterday.

He said the government has already recruited 130 inspectors to run the cell, which will work as the permanent body for the inspection of workplace safety.

In 2013, the Accord, a platform of mainly European retailers and brands, and the Alliance, a platform of North American buyers and retailers, were formed to inspect and remediate the loopholes of structural, fire and electrical safety at garment factories in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza building collapse.

The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety has already applied to the government seeking extension of the tenure for continuation of the remediation work.

“But, we will not extend it anymore,” Haque said.

The government has extended the tenure of the Accord and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety for six months so that they can take preparations for departure from the country.

As per the decision, the buyer-driven groups will be able to run their operations in the country up to December 31 this year.

So far, more than 90 percent remediation works of 2,559 factories affiliated with the Accord and the Alliance have been completed, Haque said, adding that 755 factories have completed all kinds of remediation.

The government itself is inspecting an additional 1,549 factories, mainly small- and medium-sized. But their remediation progress is very slow, the state minister said.

“I have already warned the factory owners of closure if they fail to make any visible progress by December 31 this year.” Earlier at a seminar on the capability of RCC at the same venue, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said the cell would learn more to run the remediation and inspection.

Seven of the world’s top 10 green garment factories are located in Bangladesh.

“Foreign retailers and brands should pay more for the products they buy from Bangladesh as our local entrepreneurs have already strengthened the workplace safety by spending billions of US dollars,” he said.

Foreigners can’t own over 49pc in joint ventures

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Foreigners can’t own over 49pc in joint ventures

Star Business Report

The government yesterday approved the long-awaited National Digital Commerce Policy, which does not allow foreign investors to hold a stake of over 49 percent in any e-commerce venture in Bangladesh.

The policy also mandated that the e-commerce entities clearly highlight the details of the products they sell online, which include the product’s quality along with its return policy.

They will have to also sign deals with the products’ suppliers, delivery channels and payment gateways to ensure that customers’ rights are protected properly, reads the policy. The E-commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) played an important role by organising around 30 workshops in the last two years, as part of efforts to formulate the draft guideline.

Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, the commerce ministry and the ICT division will materialise the policy. This is a huge movement to boost digital commerce and online shopping in the country, said Mustafa Jabbar, telecom and ICT minister.

The government wants to promote home-grown investors and now it is everybody’s responsibility to comply with the policy, he said.

The commerce ministry will constitute a cell and go for vigorous campaigns to clear confusion on e-transactions, NM Zeaul Alam, secretary to the cabinet division, said while giving a briefing at the secretariat.

The policy would help create more employment opportunities in the industry, he said.

The policy will properly define what e-commerce is, as it will mainly raise awareness on online based businesses, said Mostafizur Rahman Sohel, convener of BASIS E-Commerce Alliance.

The government and e-commerce entities will work together to familiarise online shopping by making the best use of the new rules, said Sohel, who was also involved in the formulation of the policy.

E-commerce entrepreneurs and leaders of the sector’s trade bodies welcomed the new policy, believing it would turn up as a boon for domestic companies.

The policy will be successful in protecting local investors’ rights, something the industry insiders have long been demanding, said AKM Fahim Mashroor, founder of ajkerdeal.com, a leading e-commerce venture in the country.

The country needs foreign investments to explore the untapped potential but that does not mean the foreigners will grab and control the sector, said Mashroor, who is also a director of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).

Daraz.com.bd, one of the leading e-commerce players in the country and a sister concern of e-commerce giant alibaba.com, will now have to offload a majority of its shares for the local companies to comply with the new policy.

“Online trading is getting popular in the country by the day and we need to address the issue,” Jabbar, who is also a former president of the BASIS, said after the cabinet meeting where the go-ahead for the policy came from.

“Most countries in the world are yet to adopt this kind of advanced policy. Even our neighbouring countries do not have a policy like this.”

A specialised “Centre of Excellence” cell will be established under the policy which will work for the development of the sector”.

Cross-border online trade has also been addressed in the policy which will widen the scope to export products through online channels, said Muhammad Abdul Wahed Tomal, general secretary of e-CAB.

More investment needed in agri-research: minister

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More investment needed in agri-research: minister

Star Business Report

Bangladesh has to invest heavily on agricultural research for climate change adaptation as the country is extremely vulnerable to the warming of the world’s weather, said Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud yesterday.

“In agriculture we have to think about the changing pattern of the rain as sometimes it is coming early,” he told a seminar, “A Climate Resilient South Asia: Turning Climate Smart Investment Opportunities into Reality”.

“So we have to think about plantation and have to go for research to find out the adaptation. A tremendous amount of investment is needed for agricultural research,” he told the event at the Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka.

The Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Saarc CCI) and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) jointly organised the event.

Mahmud said Bangladesh had already taken preventive measures such as building flood embankments and dredging rivers.

“We have already topped a global list of countries as we installed six million climate-friendly solar home systems and two million improved cooking stoves across the country,” he said.

“Bangladesh is now at the forefront in the fight against climate change. In spite of so many hurdles, including early rain, our economic growth rate is now more than 7 percent,” he said.

“It has been unusual for a country facing such climate change effects to be able to sustain an average growth rate of 6 percent plus for almost nine years,” added Mahmud.

He said Bangladesh was very vulnerable because of its geographical location while no other country was facing problems arising from climate change on all sides. “We have the Bay of Bengal in the south, and the Everest in the north,” he added.

He thinks Bangladesh having more cyclones and flooding in recent times, along with a gradual sea level rise around the world, was a testament to global warming.

“It is a change (climate) which is global over which we have no control. Control lies actually in big countries like the US, the European Union, China and India who are the main emitters of carbon dioxide, which results in global warming,” said Mahmud.

FBCCI President Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, Saarc CCI President Ruwan Edirisinghe and Saarc CCI Vice President-Bangladesh Mahbubul Alam also spoke.

Roadshows to draw foreign funds in hi-tech parks

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Roadshows to draw foreign funds in hi-tech parks

Star Business Report

Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority is set to organise roadshows in different cities around the world from September to attract foreign investors, including non-resident Bangladeshis.

The decision was taken yesterday at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of posts, telecommunication and information technology, said Hosne Ara Begum, managing director of the park authority.

BHTPA plans to organise three separate programmes, including seminars and other activities, aiming to promote the three hi-tech parks.

Sylhet Electronic City will be the first to be completed, so it will be promoted first, said Begum, who is also a secretary to the ICT division.

Sylhet Electronic City, which is being built at a cost of Tk 187.13 crore on 162 acres of land, is scheduled for completion this December.

About 50,000 new jobs will be created at the park, according to government estimates.

There is a sizeable Sylheti diaspora in the UK and the government’s target is to attract them, according to Begum.

The park authority is also developing the country’s first hi-tech park, the Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City, in Gazipur’s Kaliakoir on 355 acres of land.

The project will be completed by June next year, but few parts of the park might be inaugurated by the end of this year, according to Begum.

BHTPA is also developing the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park in Rajshahi for Tk 238.25 crore. Construction work for the 10-storied multipurpose building is already on way.

The government has also selected land in 28 districts to build IT parks and ICT incubators; BHTPA also wrote to the commissioners of the remaining 36 districts for suitable land to set up such parks there, Begum also added.

The initiative comes as part of the government’s target to earn $5 billion from ICT exports and generate 20 lakh jobs by 2021.

Light engineering shows signs of strength

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Light engineering shows signs of strength

Jagaran Chakma

The country’s light engineering sector is gradually emerging as an important source of machinery for many of the $30 billion export earning apparel-markers on the back of better quality and lower price.

Operators make machineries for washing, dyeing and finishing in the textile industry as well as film blowing machines, which are used to make polyethylene into plastic film.

Leading garment exporter Ha-Meem Group is one of the buyers of the locally made machines. The $500-million clothing exporter has recently bought a film blowing machine from Mafia Engineering Works, a local light machinery maker.

Ha-Meem paid Tk 40 lakh to Mafia Engineering for the machine, which would have cost the exporter Tk 6 crore had it been imported.

“In the past, we used to import this type of machine from Taiwan. But we are not looking to foreign suppliers now as we get almost the same machine at much lower cost,” said Monirul Islam, production manager of Sakib Poly Industry, a concern of Ha-Meem Group.

“What is noteworthy is that some local light machinery makers are using advanced technologies.”

Prior to making film blowing machine for Ha-meem, Mafia Engineering, located in the old part of the capital, also supplied DLPG film blowing machine to local conglomerates such as Pran-RFL, Square Pharmaceuticals, Akij Group, Meridian Foods, and  Bengal Group, said Abul Kashem Titu, owner of Mafia Engineering.

DLPG film blowing machine is a very basic equipment for the garment industry. It manufactures poly roll used for wrapping denim and other finished products.

Some other light engineering factories are also making this type of machines for local industries, said Titu, who set up his workshop in 1998 with only Tk 50,000 in capital and a lathe machine to make his fortune in the sector that comprises thousands of small and informal operators.

Mafia Engineering has supplied six small-scale film blowing machines so far this year and has now orders to make eight such machines.

Titu is one of 40,000 light engineering product manufacturers who are catering to sectors such as agriculture, automobile, pharmaceuticals, food industries and ship-building, helping the country cut import dependence and costs.

Shankar Chandra Mondal, owner of Raja Engineering Works on Tipu Sultan Road in Old Dhaka, manufactures spare parts for textile machineries and different kinds of gears. He started the business in 1991 and can repair all kinds of textile machines. Raja Engineering Works also manufactures zipper plate and clamp manufacturing machines for the textiles sector, said Mondal.

Similarly, Monoranajan Modal, who also has a workshop on Tipu Sultan Road, manufactures patterns for machines used in car engines, saw mills and jute mills. He said profit is very limited and he has no scope to expand because of a lack of capital.

Md Abdur Razzaque, president of Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners Association, said, “We are providing support to industrial, agricultural and construction sectors by manufacturing a wide range of spare parts, castings, moulds and dices, oil and gas pipeline fittings and light machinery. We also repair them.”

Electrical products like switch, socket, light shed, channel, cables and electrical fans, and generators manufactured by the light engineering sector now meet 48 to 52 percent of the country’s demands, which were earlier met through imports, he said.

The market size of light engineering machinery and spare parts was about Tk 25,000 crore in 2017, Razzaque said. This is up from Tk 20,000 crore a decade ago.

The Business Promotion Council under the commerce ministry estimates that local light engineering industries produce 3,815 types of machinery, spares and accessories.

The Bangladesh Investment Develop-ment Authority said more than 90 percent of light engineering industries meet local demand. It lists the sector as one of the important areas for investment owing to its potential for both domestic and foreign markets.

A number of light engineering products are also exported either directly or via subcontracting. These include spare parts of paper and cement mills, bicycle, fancy light fitting, construction equipment, iron chain, cast iron article, carbon rod, and automobile spares, according to a paper of the Export Promotion Bureau.

According to the EPB, this newly emerging sector has witnessed exponential growth and contributed about 1.5 percent to the export earnings in the financial year that ended in June 2016. The EPB data showed that engineering products fetched $510.08 million in 2015-16.

Razzaque said modernisation is taking place in the sector. Use of computerised machinery is expanding gradually. “These advanced machines help increase productivity and quality,” he said.

He said the sector needs trainers to develop skilled workforce as well as the government’s policy support to flourish, as its growth is very sluggish in absence of investment and government’s support.

“The potential of the sector is immense, but it has remained untapped for years because of lack of support,” he said.

“Our mechanics with no academic qualification can manufacture almost everything riding on their quick learning skills. Training can improve their skills.”

Razzaque urged big business groups to invest in the sector so that it develops into high tech engineering.

Agrani Bank Chairman Zaid Bakht, who conducted research on the sector, said the sector has a bright future in Bangladesh and contributes to the industrial sector.

“The sector needs sophisticated technology for rapid growth and there is no scope to ignore it, as it contributes about 2 percent to the GDP,” he said.

ADB to give $357m to develop two power lines

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ADB to give $357m to develop two power lines

Star Business Report

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an assistance package of over $357 million for a project to develop two power lines to help Bangladesh reach its national goal of ensuring electricity for all by 2021.

The investments comprise a $350 million ADB loan and a $7 million grant from the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM) to partially finance new high-technology energy efficient conductors.

It also includes a $500,000 grant from the Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund (EAKPF) to promote socially inclusive growth with gender equality, the Manila-based donor said in a statement.

The Southwest Transmission Grid Expansion Project builds on ADB’s previous work, including the recently approved Rupsha 800 megawatt Combined Cycle Power Plant in the southwest region.

The project will develop a 126-kilometre 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission line from Barisal to Faridpur and a 104 km 400 kV transmission line from Bogra to Rohanpur along with substations, transformers and associated extensions and connections.

The new transmission lines are a new type of high temperature conductor to allow more power transfer at lower energy losses.

These have less resistance to power flow, higher power transferring capacity, and operate more reliably in tropical weather. In addition, the use of these conductors also helps to minimise right-of-way requirements.

The project is also contributing to climate change mitigation, since the new conductors reduce carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional transmission conductors.

This climate change mitigation accounts for $93 million of the investment, comprising $86 million from the ADB loan and $7 million from the JFJCM grant.

Under the EAKPF grant, the project will fund a scholarship programme that will support women’s access to higher education and boost their job opportunities in electricity industry.

The government will contribute $174.5 million to the $532 million project, due to be completed by the end of June 2023.

Local pharma market set to hit $5.11b by 2023

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Local pharma market set to hit $5.11b by 2023

Star Business Report

Bangladesh’s pharmaceuticals sector will grow 15 percent year-on-year to reach $5.11 billion by 2023, propelled by high investments by local companies as they seek to grab a bigger share of the global market, said a new study yesterday.

By 2022, the market size will be more than doubled to $4.44 billion from $2.02 billion now, it said.

“Bangladesh will soon become a major global hub for high quality and low-cost generic medicine and vaccine,” said Abdul Muktadir, chairman and managing director of Incepta, a local medicine producer and exporter.

Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industries aim to capture 10 percent of the global generic market as 5 to 7 companies have received approval from top regulatory bodies, he said.

These include the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the United States Food and Drug Administration, he added.

Muktadir was presenting the keynote paper on “Pharmaceuticals: the next multi-billion dollar opportunity for Bangladesh” at a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) at The Westin Dhaka.

Bangladesh exports medicinal products to 144 countries after meeting 97 percent of the domestic demand. Pharmaceuticals exports fetched $103.46 million in the last fiscal year, up 16.03 percent year-on-year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.

Currently, Bangladesh has the facilities for producing advanced medicine like active pharmaceuticals ingredients, biosimilars, vaccines, and oncology products alongside medical devices.

Bangladesh has a surplus of pharmaceutical industry-focused human resources, Muktadir said, adding that the formulation industry is well-developed and investing heavily for future growth.

Bangladesh is capable of producing specialised delivery products like inhalers, pre-filled syringe injections, lyophilised injections, dry-powder inhaler and sustained-release formulations, he said.

The country has already developed production facilities for tablets, capsules, liquid preparations, dry suspension, injections, ointment/cream, nasal spray and granules in sachets.

In the first quarter of 2018, the market size of pharmaceutical products in Bangladesh was $2.35 billion and year-on-year growth rate was 8 percent. Per capita consumption of medicine was about $15.36.

Speaking as a panel discussant, Kazi M Aminul Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, said Bangladesh needs to develop the knowledge and capacity to grab a bigger share of the global pharmaceutical market.

British pharmaceutical company GSK has shut down its production in Bangladesh because preparing Horlicks was commercially more viable than making medicine, he said.

M Mosaddek Hossain, managing director of UniMed & UniHealth Manufacturers Ltd, said if Bangladesh could produce and run an API park successfully, it would become more competitive in the global pharmaceuticals market.

“We also need to have competitive sourcing of raw materials,” he said.

Nurul Islam, president of the AmCham, Farooq Sobhan, president of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, and Md Mustafizur Rahman, director general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration, also spoke.

Five eminent persons get Mercantile Bank awards

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Five eminent persons get Mercantile Bank awards

Star Business Report

Five personalities were honoured on Saturday with the Mercantile Bank Sommanona- 2018 awards for their outstanding contribution to the country in their respective fields.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed handed the awards at a ceremony at Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka.

Veteran poet Nirmalendu Goon was awarded for his contribution to the country’s education and culture while Jahanara Imam was honoured posthumously for freedom fighter and liberation war-based research.

Former Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman has received an award for economics, Mostafa Kamal of Meghna Group for commerce and industry and Bangladesh national cricket team captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza for sports.

The award includes gold medals, crests, and cheques of Tk 3 lakh. Mercantile Bank’s recognition of the country’s eminent personalities is truly a praiseworthy effort, the commerce minister said at the event. Jahanara Imam’s award was collected by a family friend, Shahidullah Khan Badal, while Mashrafe’s award was collected by his representative Ahmed Nafiz Momen as he the captain is abroad with the national cricket team, the bank said in a statement. At the same event, the private commercial bank also honoured five bankers with the newly introduced MBL Young Bankers’ Appreciation Award-2018.

The awardees are: Fayez Uddin Ahmed, senior principal officer of First Security Islami Bank; Md Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, first assistant vice-president of Trust Bank; Md Rajon Mia, first assistant vice-president of Mercantile Bank; Md Riazul Haque, senior executive officer of Bank Asia; and Mohammad Anowar Hossain, principal officer of AB Bank.

Each awardee received certificates, crest and cheques of Tk 2 lakh each.  The Young Bankers’ Appreciation Award is an exemplary initiative that will encourage other organisations to honour young talents as well, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor said at the event.

AKM Shaheed Reza, chairman of Mercantile Bank, and Kazi Masihur Rahman, chief executive officer, also spoke.

Conservation farming on 10pc land can save Tk 1,200cr a year

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Conservation farming on 10pc land can save Tk 1,200cr a year

Star Business Report

Bangladesh can get 737,000 tonnes of rice and other cereals and save over Tk 1,200 crore a year by adopting a farming system called Conservation Agriculture (CA) on 10 percent of its cultivable land, according to a recent study.

Adoption of CA, which calls for a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and diversification of plant species, will also help improve the health of soil, which is deteriorating.

“We have found very convincing reasons in over 12 years of on-farm demonstrations and recently from surveys of farmer-reported benefits from CA,” said Richard W Bell, professor of land management at Murdoch University, Australia.

He was presenting a paper on conservation agriculture and farm mechanisation at an event held at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in Dhaka.

Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF), a government sponsored agricultural research entity, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), an independent statutory authority in Australia’s Foreign Affairs, jointly organised the programme.

CA benefits farmers as it reduces the cost of production by saving labour and fuel costs as well as water for wheat.

“Some of those benefits address the labour shortages and some involve cost savings and water savings. Generally, there was increased yield and almost always increased profits,” Bell said.

For soil health, CA has been a positive influence, according to the paper. Versatile Multi-crop Planter (VMP) has been developed here under the ACIAR project to promote CA in Bangladesh.

The VMP is being used with power tiller for planting of crops. A local firm, Hoque Corporation, manufactures the VMP, according to the paper.

In another paper on cropping system intensification in the salt-affected coastal zone of Bangladesh and India, Mohammed Mainuddin of the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation Australia, said 65 percent of the area in the coastal zone is affected by various levels of salinity in the dry season.

Most of the land during dry season remains fallow for late rice harvest and prolonged water-logging, exposure of winter crops to high soil salinity and lack of quality water for irrigation during the season, he said.

Under the initiative, three areas — Amtali of coastal district Barguna, Dacope of southwest district Khulna and Gosaba of South 24 Parganas, West Bengal — were taken to test suitable cropping options, he added.

“We are experimenting with multiple crops to see which crop is more beneficial,” Mainuddin said citing the introduction of aus rice, cultivation of high-yielding and early-maturing new varieties of aman rice, and the growing of multiple crops on salinity affected land.

Due to climate change, the entire coastal region is affected with higher degree of floods, water-logging, tidal surges, droughts and salinity intrusion, said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury.

“Productivity enhancement in agriculture is a prime concern to feed the growing population. We need to explore all possible scientific opportunities to increase the productivity of major crops.”

The government has formulated the National Agricultural Policy 2018 that pays greater focus on science-led development approach.

Issues like the use of modern technology such as nanotechnology, genetically modified organism, hybrid, growing more crops with less input, conservation, and precision agriculture conserving soil health and natural resources have been given adequate attention, she said.

She stressed on enhanced collaboration between Bangladesh and Australia to widen the scope of agricultural technology development in stress-prone zones. “I would also like to emphasise the exchange of germplasm of stress-tolerant variety of different crops,” Chowdhury added.

Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Julia Niblett, former vice-chancellor of the Bangladesh Agricultural University Abdus Sattar Mandal, W Erskine of the Centre for Plant Genetics and Breeding at the University of Western Australia, BARC Executive Chairman Md Kabir Ikramul Haque and KGF Executive Director Wais Kabir also spoke.

Bangladesh seeks big Indian investment in 13 sectors

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Bangladesh seeks big Indian investment in 13 sectors

 

Pallab Bhattacharya

Bangladesh has identified 13 sectors where it is seeking ‘mega investment’ from India in joint venture projects.

The sectors include agro-processing, automobiles, ceramics, chemicals, gems and jewellery, light engineering, ICT, hospital and medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and textiles.

Syed Muazzem Ali, Bangladesh’s high commissioner to India, pointed out the sectors and urged Indian companies to make mega investment by taking advantage of the country’s impressive economic growth.

He spoke at a seminar in Kolkata on Monday organised to mark Bangladesh’s graduation from the least developed country’s category, said the high commission in a statement.

The Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata and the Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) jointly organised the seminar.

“The most practical cause of action would be to set up a series of buy-back projects where Indian investors will set up industries in Bangladesh and re-export to India and some other neighbouring countries,” said Ali.

He advised the Indian businesses to take advantage of Bangladesh’s competitive labour costs and closer proximity to India’s north-eastern markets.

Several Indian large companies such as Hero Honda, Tata Group and CEAT Tyres companies have already set up projects in Bangladesh. “But, these are small projects. What we need is much bigger investment. If we could engage in the bigger projects, it will also ensure the stability of our relationship,” Ali said.

The envoy said Bangladesh has seen a steadily upward run in almost every sector of governance, economy, politics and social upliftment.

“Today, Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a record 7.28 percent GDP growth. Our growth rate is expected to reach 7.65 percent in the current fiscal year.”

The country which was once ridiculed as bottomless basket is now globally considered as a ‘development miracle’, Ali said, adding that Bangladesh’s socio-economic achievement is a global role model.

Jamaluddin Ahmed, general secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Association; Ramesh Agarwal, president of the MCCI; and Sheikh FazleFahim, senior vice president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, also spoke.