Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Thursday said his ministry would work in a coordinated way with the relevant ministries to help resolve the problems facing by the country's business community.
He also said an initiative would be taken to enhance the capacity of commercial councilors engaged in Bangladesh missions abroad so that they can negotiate well for boosting export from Bangladesh to the global market.
Tofail made the remark at a meeting with a delegation of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) at his office, reports UNB.
MCCI President Rokeya Afzal Rahman led the MCCI delegation. MCCI vice president Anis A Khan, Anis Ud Doula, Habibullah A Karim, Golam Moin Uddin, Kamran T Rahman, Mamun Rashid, Faruk Ahmed and M Alam were, among others, present.
The commerce minister told the MCCI delegation that the present government is a business-friendly one and mentioned that it is government's responsibility to provide the businesspeople with required supports.
Tofail also assured the MCCI delegation of quick completion of the works on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to upgrade it to a four-lane one and thus expedite export-import activities in the country.
FE Report adds:
MCCI said to keep inflation at a tolerable level, the government may continue its Open Market Sales (OMS) programme of rice and other staples in different city points, slums and industrial belts, the delegation said, adding that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) should be made fully functional with adequate funds for importing essential commodities when needed.
The MCCI urged the minister to adopt proper strategy to ensure access to finances to SMEs and promote the ongoing skills development programs for SME capacity building to successfully link them with the larger industrial value chains.
Because, country's SMEs, though contributing the highest to the GDP, are poorly linked with the value chain of the large industries of the formal sector, particularly with the export oriented sectors, the chamber leaders said.
The MCCI team also requested the minister to develop a nationwide industrial database, which can be used to locate data concerning profile of companies, products and brands, track industry and product sales, identify industry trends, forecasts and R&D expenditures, track competitors, customers and suppliers, verify such business events as contracts, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and find information about corporate strategies, marketing campaigns and new business opportunities.
Mentioning absence of any such updated database, the MCCI leaders strongly laid stress on developing the database that is essential to determine industrial growth. The CMI published by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) provides data of two-three-year-old, which does not fulfill the desired requirement.
The MCCI team also emphasised on expediting the ongoing trade infrastructure projects such as four lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway and other projects relating to the rail, roads and waterways connectivity to link the Chittagong and Mongla Ports, and infrastructure development of the land ports.
The chamber leaders strongly urged the commerce minister to take up high level bilateral negotiations on effective reduction of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in India.
MCCI is currently working upon identifying such NTBs for selected products such as processed food, cement, woven and knit apparels and jute products etc, they said the chamber will be happy to cooperate with the ministry in this connection.
They also requested to take initiative to make the existing regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) more effective. Apart from trade, multipronged economic cooperation including transport and trans-shipment agreements with the neighbours should be expedited on a bilateral and multilateral basis, for outreach to a greater magnitude of market and economic prosperity, they said.
Saying that the recently concluded World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial at Bali afforded us more flexibility to undertake trade facilitation initiatives linking the Aid for Trade opportunities to finance such projects, the MCCI leaders said, "We should take this up on a priority basis and identify the prospective project to mobilise the required funds."
Their another request to the minister was to take up initiatives to set up specialised institutions to address the capacity building needs of manufacturing sub sectors, such as textile, jute, leather, handicrafts etc. The existing Business Promotion Councils may be strengthened to this effect, they said.
They MCCI leaders stressed on shunning political unrest by all means for the sake of economic growth, poverty reduction and employment creation. They said political parties must come out of the culture of confrontational politics and business must be kept out of any political programme.
They urged the minister to strictly enforce the existing laws including restrictions and conditions on holding rallies and meetings etc, and requirement for prior approval for holding meetings at public places, sale and transportation of explosives and fuels, and so forth, to prevent subversive activities against the public property and life.
"If required, the existing laws can be updates or new laws may be formulated to safeguard the life and property of citizens and maintain order in daily public life," they said, adding that "In neighboring large cities like Kolkata, political programmes that call for large gathering of the crowd, can be held only during the weekend. Our government may think of introducing such regulations in order to keep the public life and business flow undisrupted."
The last point of their demands to the minister was to take a comprehensive effort on image building of the country. "A world renowned professional firm should be hired for the task. The private sector may be requested to contribute," they added.
Another FE Report adds:
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu assured the business leaders Thursday of supplying gas and electricity to industries on priority basis to increase production.
He also said steps would be taken to enhance quality and prevent irregularities in government institutions like Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI). He suggested the leaders of MCCI to take effective measures to mobilise public opinion in favour of observing political programmes on weekend and shifting of weekend from Friday and Saturday.
Mr Amu was talking to the MCCI leaders during a courtesy call as the chamber leaders placed a 13-point demand to the minister.
The major demands include: shunning confrontational political activities, maintaining public order and security, strengthening of BSTI, capacity building of BCSIR and BANSDOC, gas connection to industries, giving focus on thrust sectors indentified in Industrial Policy 2010, development of SIVIEs and value chain linkages with formal sector, capital investment outside Bangladesh, updating IP laws, development of rules for GI law, development of a Nationwide Industrial Database, development of economic zones, and country image building.
Meanwhile, an industries ministry press release said MCCI leaders suggested observance of political programmes on weekend and shifting of present weekly holidays from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday to get facilities in international trade.
MCCI president Rokia Afzal Rahman, vice-president Anis A Khan, member M Anis ud Doula, Golam Mainuddin, Kamran T Rahman, general secretary Mamun Rashid and additional secretary of industries ministry GM Jaynal Abedin were present at the meeting.
The business leaders emphasised on uninterrupted power and gas supply to industries to increase production, modernisation of BSTI and transparency in its services. They complained that businesses are harassed by the BSTI men in the name of drive against adulteration.
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