Development of SMEs emphasised

---

Our Correspondent
CHITTAGONG, September 29: Board of Investment's (BOI) executive chairman Dr SA Samad today said the principles and activities of the board have been mostly softened during the present government as five out of its seven offices are now under the PMO (Prime Minister's Office).
He said most of the bureaucratic tangles with regard to investments have been removed and there are no complications either. He also emphasised on the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Dr Samad said Chittagong has a unique geographical importance to become the gateway to the Far East Asia. Chittagong should be given priority within industrial development policy taking into account its primary function as the national gateway having the port facilities of international standard and its inherited trade and industrial base functions, he observed.
He said this while speaking at a conference on 'Industrialisation of Chittagong in the national economy: Perspective and Potentials, organised jointly by Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and the BOI at the CCCI auditorium at Agrabad in the city.
Dr Samad presided over the conference, while MA Latif MP, member of Parliamentary Standing Committee for Commerce Ministry, as the chief guest
and Mr KS Pru, the Bomang King of Bandarban hill district of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) addressed it as the special guest. Veteran journalist and editor of the Weekly Holiday Zahiduzzaman Faruque was the moderator of the conference.
MA Latif came down heavily on the bureaucratic hurdles that are severely obstructing local and foreign direct investment in different sectors.
"With a reach hinterland with the CHT and southern parts Chittagong could become the driver of emerging sectors like shipbuilding, steel, tourism etc but a section of ministerial top officials stands on the way to development of the region and the country.
"It is unfortunate that the top government officials are making laws taking advantage of the inefficient lawmakers in our country for a long time," he said emphatically.
Due to their faulty planning and implementation the development of the country has been centralized in Dhaka which is the sign of illness of the national physique, he opined and said that Chittagong should be more involved in the national overall development.
CCCI president Murshed Murad Ibrahim in his opening speech said infrastructure in the Chittagong region has not developed as expected although it has the biggest seaport and the export processing zone of the country contributing more than $25 billion to the national economy.
Professor Md Selim Uddin of the Accounting Department of Chittagong University in his keynote paper suggested upgrading the port management to global standards and transforming Chittagong into a skill education hub that could make it to complement global port to become a $60 billion economy by 2030.
Panel discussants were Honourary Consul of Turkey Saladdin Kasem Khan, former CCCI president Engineer Ali Ahmed, chief executive officer of James Finlay in Bangladesh AQI Chowdhury, East Delta University associate professor A Quiyum Chowdhury.