Govt to add oceangoing shipping in new industrial policy: Dilip
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
FE Report
Industries Minister Dilip Barua said the oceangoing shipping industry will be included in the new industrial policy, as sea-vessels transport 90 per cent of the country's export-import goods.
"We will take initiatives to include the oceangoing shipping industry in the new industrial policy. The draft policy is ready to get the government's nod, but a meeting will be held before that," he said.
The minister was speaking in a meeting with the leaders of Bangladesh Ocean-Going Ship Owners Association (BOGSOA) at his Secretariat office Tuesday.
ABM Khorshed Alam, additional secretary of Ministry of Industries, asked the BOGSOA leaders to submit a concept paper including the role played by the industry, its employment generation, potentiality of business expansion, and opportunity of foreign currency earning.
Earlier, the association leaders demanded to enlist the oceangoing shipping business as a cent per cent export-oriented industry, and provide it with similar facilities extended to other export-oriented industries.
The government declared shipping as an export-oriented industry in 1994. "But we are yet to receive any facility enjoyed by other export-oriented industries of the country," said BOGSOA secretary general SM Mahfuzul Huq.
He claimed that the industry has been totally deprived and neglected. As a result, investment on oceangoing fleet has gradually fallen, and the country's import and export activities are getting more and more dependant on foreign ships.
Bangladesh can save and earn a huge amount of foreign currency by expanding the shipping industry, the leaders added.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua said the oceangoing shipping industry will be included in the new industrial policy, as sea-vessels transport 90 per cent of the country's export-import goods.
"We will take initiatives to include the oceangoing shipping industry in the new industrial policy. The draft policy is ready to get the government's nod, but a meeting will be held before that," he said.
The minister was speaking in a meeting with the leaders of Bangladesh Ocean-Going Ship Owners Association (BOGSOA) at his Secretariat office Tuesday.
ABM Khorshed Alam, additional secretary of Ministry of Industries, asked the BOGSOA leaders to submit a concept paper including the role played by the industry, its employment generation, potentiality of business expansion, and opportunity of foreign currency earning.
Earlier, the association leaders demanded to enlist the oceangoing shipping business as a cent per cent export-oriented industry, and provide it with similar facilities extended to other export-oriented industries.
The government declared shipping as an export-oriented industry in 1994. "But we are yet to receive any facility enjoyed by other export-oriented industries of the country," said BOGSOA secretary general SM Mahfuzul Huq.
He claimed that the industry has been totally deprived and neglected. As a result, investment on oceangoing fleet has gradually fallen, and the country's import and export activities are getting more and more dependant on foreign ships.
Bangladesh can save and earn a huge amount of foreign currency by expanding the shipping industry, the leaders added.