PM requested to restore at least email contact for businesses

‘Competitors gaining edge in export market’

FE REPORT | Published: July 23, 2024 23:00:23

Business leader Syed Nasim Manzoor requested Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday to restore at least the email communications as the businesses were failing to communicate with their foreign buyers amid the lingering internet outage.
Syed Nasim Manzoor, President of Bangladesh Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, also requested the prime minister to arrange the reopening factories as soon as possible because the competitors of the country are taking advantage of the shutdown.
He also proposed that manual system should be reopened by the NBR for customs clearances in the ports.
He also requested the PM to consider whether the Dhaka-Chattogram export corridor could be reopened through security cordon.
Denouncing the recent spells of violence he said the perpetrators must be brought to book. However, he wondered why such planned attacks did skip the attention of the intelligence agencies.
He was speaking in a meeting of the Prime Minister with business leaders at her office.
In the meeting the business leaders pledged their unequivocal support to the leadership of the prime minister and felt that under her leadership the 'current crisis' can be overcome.
Former FBCCI President Salman F Rahman, now adviser to the PM on private investment and industry affairs, moderated the discussions. In his opening remark, he urged the business community to remain vocal against the perpetrators who carried out "unprecedented arson attacks and vandalism" across the country.
"Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, the country has emerged as a role model for development in front of the world," he opined.
FBCCI president Mahbubul Alam said that 30 million businesspeople of the country are with the Prime Minister. "We have been with you before and we will be with you till the end."
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (GMEA) President S M Mannan said the recent violence and destructions aimed at killing Sheikh Hasina.
The BKMEA Executive President, Hatem Ali, urged the PM to reopen the factories from Tuesday, saying that the country's main export sector is incurring huge loss owing to the shutdown.
He argues that if the workers can be engaged inside factories, they cannot be lured by the perpetrators to get involved in subversive acts.
Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan urged the business community to keep patience for some days and hoped that, like in the past, Sheikh Hasina would be able to bring back normalcy in the country very soon.
He demanded exemplary punishment of the perpetrators.