GOVERNMENT

Saifur for invest in tourism
The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, recently sought private sector investment in the country’s tourism industry to attract more travellers. Entrepreneurs can invest in hotel, food and aviation industries to give a boost to the country’s fledgling hospitality industry. Saifur said, ‘Although the year 2006 has been declared as the SAARC tourism year, but visa processing and transportation are still very complicated among the SAARC countries’. He suggested that tourism facilities should be made easier among the SAARC countries. Eco-tourism in the Haor areas, ethnic and traditional cultures, handmade products of ethnic society people, presentation of natural tourism products in more attractive ways could make the tourism as a profitable industry. There are round 2.44 lakh visitors came in the country in 2004, and the number of travellers has already reached 2.71 lakh till November 2005. The country earned about Tk 396 crore from tourism sector in the current year.

BSCIC’s target failed
Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation of Sylhet has failed to reach the target of 79 industries as entrepreneurs are shy of setting up factories due to various problems. BSCIC had fixed the target to establish 79 factories in its estate at Khaidmnagar on Sylhet-Tamabil road where 120 plots were offered to the entrepreneurs. Only 35 units have started operation in the estate in last 15 years. The units have been limping with low production. About 1,400 employees are working in 35 industrial units. Two industries are waiting to go into production, 17 are under construction and 12 allottees are yet to take any venture.

RMG & TEXTILE

BGMEA demands code of conduct
The garment association has demanded that the country’s shipping agency and freight forwarding services must be guided by code of conduct, lack of which is costing the country’s export sector and import trade. As there is no such code, many foreign companies, including some from Sri Lanka, are siphoning off huge amount of money, ignoring the laws of the land as well as international rules. The BGMEA letter referred to global practices of container transportation guided by UNCTAD/ICC Rules-1992, ESCAP Rules by Manual on Freight Forwarding and UCP-500, which do not require any sort of no objection certificate in exchange of extra payment to authorities. The country’s business community has long been pressing National Board of Revenue for bringing freight forwarding business under control through introducing mandatory licensing system, but the demand has so far been ignored. Even the prime minister’s directives, given in this regard at the 10th meeting of national committee on export affairs, were not executed yet, the association regretted.

BTMA opposes opening of land port
Textile millers have strongly protested the government’s decision to open land ports for yarn import and suggested evaluation by a committee before executing the decision, which, they feared, would put their huge investment in the sector at stake. The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association at a news conference recently assumed that certain external lobby working against the local textile industry might have convinced the government to lift the embargo on yarn import through land ports. Allowing yarn import through land ports would mean opening the local market to Indian yarn and wiping out local spinning industry, the industry leaders said. The announcement came as a good news for the knitwear and woven garment makers and exporters, who were frantically demanding that the import ban must go.

Pakistan’s exports of RMG
Exports of readymade garments and bedwear registered an average growth of over 72 per cent during the July-October period of the current fiscal year, over the same period last year. Official figures available with Dawn indicated that exports of readymade garments increased by 76.76 per cent and that of bedwear by 72.41 per cent during the period under review, over the same period last year. On monthly basis, the growth in exports of readymade garments and bedwear stood at 18.68 per cent and 73.70 per cent, respectively, in October 2005.

ECONOMY

IMF sees higher growth
The global economy is likely to accelerate during the year 2006, faster than the International Monetary Fund had forecast as recently as September, IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said recently. In a news conference marking the end of the year, Rato said the stronger outlook was mainly buoyed by signs of an economic revival in Europe and in Japan, the recovery had kept up its momentum.

INT’L JOB MARKET

Thai jobless rate
Thailand’s jobless rate hit a three-year low at 1.36 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2005, the government’s economic think tank expressed. The number of employed persons rose from 36.1 million in 2004 to 36.5 million in this period, lowering the unemployment rate to merely 1.36 per cent of the labor force. The size of Thailand’s labor force also grew by one per cent to 37.02 million from the third quarter last year. The unemployment rate dropped in every region except Bangkok, where the jobless rate stood at 2.02 per cent.

India asks US for job market
The US will have to open its market to more foreign temporary workers as part of any new world trade deal, despite strong opposition in the US Congress, India’s Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said recently. The United States ‘can’t hide behind saying this is an immigration issue,’ Nath told Reuters. According to him, as long as services remains part of the WTO, you can’t hide behind saying this is an immigration issue.

Indonesia’s unemployment
Indonesia’s jobless rate is expected to rise by up to two per cent in 2006, from the current 10.19 per cent. A estimated economic growth of around 5.7 per cent this year has not provided enough jobs. Another 29.6 million worked less than 40 hours a week. About 55 per cent of the workforce only had primary school education and only five per cent had university or other higher education.

INTERNATIONAL

US court overturns $10b tobacco award
The Illinois Supreme Court recently overturned a 10.1-billion-dollar award to smokers who claimed tobacco giant Altria misled them about the dangers of ‘light’ cigarettes. The decision in favor of Altria’s Philip Morris USA division was a major victory for the tobacco industry, which has been successful in overturning a number of the massive judgments imposed in recent years. The court dismissed the case on the grounds that the US Federal Trade Commission had specifically authorized tobacco companies to characterize their products as ‘light’ or ‘low tar and nicotine.’

China offers tariff-free trade
China will offer 30 of the world’s poorest countries tariff-free trade from 2006. The 10 member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations, Bangladesh and Sudan were among the countries the preferential rates would apply to.

US beef back in Japan
A shipment of US beef arrived by plane in Tokyo end of December in the first such delivery since Japan lifted a two-year embargo imposed over mad cow disease concerns. The 4.6-ton cargo, including 0.3 tons of tongue and other internal organs, arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo in an order by major meat company Marudai Food. Quarantine officials are to check if the exporter, Harris Ranch Beef of California, keeps the safety conditions set by the Japanese government such as the removal of risky parts. Japan had been the biggest overseas market for US beef, importing 1.7 billion dollars worth in 2002, until it slapped a ban in December 2003.

Putin insists on foreign bank
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that foreign bank branches in Russia should continue to be forbidden, a key sticking point in the country’s negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation. Currently, foreign banks are only allowed to operate through subsidiaries that they must register in Russia, leading to greater costs. The United States, which has yet to agree to Russia’s WTO membership, has insisted on the rights of foreign banks to open branches in the country as a precondition for membership.

China’s holiday migration
China’s mass migration for the annual Lunar New Year holiday is expected to increase to more than two billion journeys in January and February. Passenger flow in the world’s largest annual movement of people will grow 3.1 per cent from last year in the travel period from January 14 to February 22. The first day of the coming Lunar New Year, which will be the Year of the Dog, will fall on January 29. In China, Lunar New Year or ‘Spring Festival’ is a time when many people travel for family reunions. Many of China’s estimated 140 million migrant workers, who often only have one holiday a year, will return to their home communities. Rail trips will reach 144 million, road trips will total 1.8 billion and travel by plane will hit 15 million journeys, the government estimated.

Indonesia’s GDP
Indonesia’s gross domestic product in the fourth quarter post growth of 4.0 per cent year-on-year with full-year GDP likely to rise by around 5.3-5.6 per cent. The central bank had earlier forecast full-year GDP growth of 5.5-6.0 per cent but later downgraded the estimate following a weaker-than-expected third quarter economic performance. Third quarter GDP was up 5.34 per cent year-on-year, or weaker than the central bank’s official growth forecast of 5.5-6.0 per cent.

FINANCE & BANKING

8 PCBs’ default loans
Gross non-performing assets account for more than 10 per cent of total outstanding loans, of eight private commercial banks, till the end of the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Three of these banks—Oriental Bank, First Security Bank and Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd — are now placed under the central bank’s problem bank category. Of the rest five, Arab Bangladesh Bank, National Bank and IFIC Bank have been put under central bank’s early warning system, while Pubali Bank recently stepped out of the problem bank criteria. Another bank having double digit ratio of defaulted loans is Uttara Bank. Meanwhile, private banks loans in the special mention account showed a declining trend in last six months after the introduction of the system since March 31, 2005. But state-owned banks’ stakes in the special mention account increased during the period, showed the central bank figures.

Fund for SMEs
The Bangladesh Bank has pumped Tk 154.3 crore into the small and medium enterprises, under its refinancing scheme till September 2005 since July 2004. Of the amount disbursed, central bank gave Tk 104.3 crore, while Tk 50 crore came from the World Bank’s SME fund worth Tk 100 crore. In a bid to extend credit facilities to small entrepreneurs, who have little or no access to formal credit market that often requires collaterals, the Bangladesh Bank formed a Tk 100 crore small Enterprise Fund in May 2004 with contribution from the government In addition, the World Bank pledged $10 million under its enterprise growth and bank modernisation project, while Asian Development Bank also committed to channel $30 million under its small and medium enterprises sector development project. The programme loan was to be released in two tranches and the expected closing date of the programme loan is December 31, 2007.

Transaction with ACU
The Bangladesh Bank’s gross transaction with the Asian Clearing Union posted 14 per cent growth in the January-November ‘05 period over the same period of 2004, despite marginal decline in November. Bangladesh borrowed over $1.82 billion from the system in 11 months through November 2005 and channelled $113.70 million into the union as creditor, revealed the latest monthly report of the union. The country’s total transactions stood over $1.93 billion till November 2005, which was $1.69 billion during the first 11 months of last year. The Bangladesh Bank again emerged as the third largest gross debtor, as it was in October. In the month under review, Central Bank of Iran is the top net creditor, as the bank channelled $329.67 million to the system, while the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was the top net debtor, as its net borrowing amounted to $167.89 million.

EXPORT

Flower export declining
The export volume of flowers and floral products shows a downtrend in the current financial year compared with that of the previous year due to inferior quality and lack of policy support, said exporters and promotion officials. In the 2004-05 financial year, the country had earned over Tk 16.61 crore, but it is likely to drop by at least 30 per cent in the current fiscal. Although the natural quality like fragrance and colour of indigenous flowers looks fascinating and more natural than the flowers of any other countries like Pakistan, India, and the Netherlands, Bangladeshi growers had no scientific training on how to preserve the flowers. The growers need training on preservation, germination, disease control, cultivation, and longevity of flowers in order to boost up the export growth. The growers of India, Kenya, the Netherlands, and Thailand are following the scientific methods in preserving the flowers which have durability of minimum 15 days. But the durability of the country’s flowers is not more than five days. Bangladesh exports flowers and floral products to Pakistan, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, USA, Congo, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Greece, Belgium, Samoa, Turkey, Japan, Germany, UK, Denmark, and France. Tuberose, rose, orchid and marigold are among the major flowers that make up Bangladesh’s floral basket for exports. Flowers grow in plenty at Godthkhali in Jessore, Kaliganj, Maheshpur and Nepa in Jenidah, Jibannagar in Chuadhanga, Savar in Dhaka and also in Manikganj, Gajipur, Bogra, Rangpur and Chittagong.

Aromatic rice
Agricultural experts, officials and common farmers of the northern districts called for taking special steps to export abroad more aromatic rice produced in the area to help enrich growers. The experts and agro scientists saw bright prospects of increasing aromatic rice production in greater Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra and Rajshahi districts, as the soil and climate are suitable for the purpose. Over 48,000 hectares of land have been brought under cultivation of varieties of aromatic paddy in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Lalomnirhat, Kurigram, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Dinajpur, Joypurhat, Bogra, Naogaon, Rajshai, Chapainawabganj, and Natore districts this year and the average production may exceed 1.10 lakh tones of the rice, the sources told the official news agency. Prices of the aromatic rice are more than double the prices of other high yielding and traditional varieties in the local markets. But aromatic rice is produced for own consumptions and entertaining guests with ‘aromatic polao’ throughout the year. Farmers have no knowledge about export of the rice abroad.

Shrimp export future
The country’s shrimp export may land in trouble due to lack of proper mechanism for nitrofuran testing and the government’s dillydallying in equipping the quality testing laboratory with modern apparatus, fear industry people. Exporters were exposed to fresh problem as a European Commission team of experts declined to accept nitrofuran testing certification so far provided by the Bangladesh Council for Science and Industrial Research. The council, the European experts claimed, lacks equipment to detect the presence of the antibiotic. The European Commission recognises the Fisheries Inspection and Quality Control laboratory run by the Department of Fisheries as the lone authority for quality certification, but the lab also lacks required quality testing equipment, exporters and fisheries officials said. The frozen food industry accounts for 4.86 per cent of the country’s annual exports. In fiscal year 2004-05, the sector fetched $421 million in exports posting a 7.81 per cent growth compared to the previous fiscal’s earning of $390 million.


AVIATION

Air France to fly daily
Air France plans to run a daily direct service to Paris from India’s technology hub, Bangalore, boosting its number of flights from five a week, the airline’s chief said. The airline, which launched its Paris-Bangalore service November 1, gave no date for when it would start daily flights. But since the beginning of the Airbus 330-200 service from Bangalore, centre of India’s booming high-tech sector, ‘the response has been very promising,’ Air France-KLM Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta told AFP. The passenger load factor has risen to 90 per cent in December from 80 per cent in November, with many passengers opting for a Paris stopover for connecting flights to Europe, Africa and North America.

China and Airbus accord
The Chinese government and the European aircraft manufacturing consortium Airbus has signed a cooperation agreement at a public ceremony that may pave the way for the opening of an aircraft assembly plant in China. The accord was signed by Airbus chief executive Gustave Humbert and the deputy head of China’s national development and reform commission, Zhang Xiaoqiang, in the southwestern French city of Toulouse.

Low-cost airline battle heats up
Asia's low-cost airline battle heated up when Singapore-based discount carriers announced special fares on new routes to Australia, Bali and India. Tiger Airways sold tickets for a one-way trip to Darwin at one Singapore dollar (60 US cents) each to mark the launch of the airline's service to the Australian city. The promotional fare was applicable only on flights from Singapore to Darwin from December 19 till the end of December.

EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS

New MD of IFIC Bank
Mashiur Rahman has been appointed Managing Director of IFIC Bank Limited. Prior to this appointment, he was the Deputy Managing Director of the Bank. He joined IFIC Bank Ltd. in 1983 and held responsible positions in different capacities. Mr. Rahman started his banking career in 1966 as a Trainee in the then National Bank of Pakistan and worked in various capacities. After liberation, he was posted to Sonali Bank in the United Kingdom and remained there for three years with various assignments including Manager of Bradford Branch, London.

Bay Leasing’s new chair
The board of directors of Bay Leasing and Investment Limited in its 55th board meeting elected Professor Suraiya Begum as the chairperson recently. A B ED from Mymensing, Suraiya Begum was a teacher at the Mymensing Teacher’s Training College, Begum Bodrunnesa Women’s College, vice-principal of Jagannath University College and principal of Home Economics College, from where she retired in 2004. She is also associated with a number of welfare organisations.

New Ericsson Country Manager
Ericsson announced the appointment of Arun Bansal as the new Country Manager for the company's Bangladesh operations. Bansal succeeds Rafiah Ibrahim, who will return to Malaysia to take on a new role as Head of Strategy for Ericsson South East Asia and Ericsson Malaysia's Deputy Country Manager. Bansal brings with him 16 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, working in Ericsson's offices in various management roles in Sweden, United States, India and Malaysia. Prior to this announcement, Bansal was Vice President and Key Account Executive for the Maxis Group, based in Malaysia, a position which he held for two years.

Dr Sakib joins Apollo Hospitals
Dr Syed Sakib Nazir recently joined the Apollo Hospitals, Dhaka as a consultant of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology. Sakib having his medical and cardiology training and career in the UK between 1994 and 2004, specialises in performing coronary and peripheral angiography, transradial coronary angiography, complex and multi-vessel coronary angioplasty (PTCA and stenting). His is an expert in implanting permanent pacemaker, ICD and bi-ventricular pacemaker and has a vast experience in providing cardiac care to patients with diabetes and renal (kidney) diseases. Before joining Apollo, he served as consultant cardiologist at Dewsbury and District Hospital, West Yorkshire, UK and also worked as a senior consultant cardiologist and head of Interventional Cardiology at the Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital and Research Institute, Dhaka.

Mohiuddin new CSE president
Chittagong: MKM Mohiuddin has been elected President of Chittagong Stock Exchange for the year 2006. AQI Chowdhury, Fakhor Uddin Ali Ahmed and Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury have been elected vice presidents of the bourse at the tenth annual general meeting held recently. Earlier, the meeting elected Mirza Salman Ispahani, ASM Nayeem, AQI Chowdhury and AL Maruf Khan directors of the bourse for a three-year term of 2006-2008. The AGM also approved the audited accounts for the year 2004 and re-appointed Rahman Rahman Huq the auditor of the bourse for the next year. The current CSE board consists of twelve elected and twelve non-elected directors.

New US Ambassador to Bangladesh
The White House announced that President Bush intends to nominate Patricia A. Butenis as the next US Ambassador to Bangladesh. Butenis is a career diplomat currently serving as the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, an announcement of the US State Department said recently. She previously served in Bogotá, Colombia, Warsaw, Poland, and the State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau

New CEO of CityCell
Chye Hoon Pin has been appointed as the chief executive officer of CityCell recently. Prior to the new assignment, Pin was the senior director of SingTel Consumer Business Group responsible for mobile product and services development. He was director of Engineering Operations overseeing the entire SingTel mobile network operation with five different mobile systems. He has worked in the telecommunications industry for almost 30 years with experience ranging from fixed network, network management, IT and cellular phone service.

Hanif Zakaria made Emirates’ area manager
Hanif Zakaria has been appointed as the new Emirates area manager for Bangladesh. Prior to this assignment, Zakaria was the sales manager of Emirates Bangladesh. Since his arrival in Dhaka in July 2005, Zakaria has been promoting the airline within the country. Under his brief leadership, Emirates Bangladesh is now offering more capacity to travellers following a de-link of the airline’s flights to Kuala Lumpur. He is also introducing unified timings for Emirates flights from Dhaka. He started his career with the airline in 1989 as sales executive in Saudi Arabia. Zakaria was born in Dhaka and studied in Chittagong. He moved to Pakistan and is now a resident of the UAE and Canada

New DG of Railways
Engineer KMA Rob has been appointed as the new director general of Bangladesh Railway on January 4. Rob started his career in railway in 1972 as an assistant engineer and served in different important aptitudes. A member of BCS cadre, he obtained graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

New Executives of ICAB

The Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has elected its new office bearers for the year 2006. ASM Nayeem FCA has been elected President and Showkat Hossain FCA, Dr. Jamaluddin Ahmed FCA, and SM Atiar Rahman FCA have been elected Vice Presidents of the Institute.

ASM Nayeem FCA obtained a First Class Master of Commerce Degree from the University of Dhaka in 1969 and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Administration from the University of Aston in Birmingham (UK) in 1976. Nayeem qualified as a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Accountant from UK in 1980. A fellow of the Institute of ICAB and its outgoing Vice President, Nayeem is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, UK.

He is currently a Board Member and Additional Managing Director of the Karnaphuli Group of companies. He is also the Managing Director of K&T Logistics Limited, a joint venture company set up in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone. Nayeem is a Sponsor Board Member and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Republic Insurance Company Limited, Nayeem is also a Board Member of the Chittagong Stock Exchange Ltd., the Grameen Fund and of a number of private companies. He was a Vice President of Chittagong Stock Exchange in the year 2004. He was the Chairman of Bangladesh Shipping Agents' Association and of the Chittagong Port Users' Forum from 2000 to 2002. He served as Controller of Accounts of Bangladesh Biman Corporation (1982-83), UNDP National Expert for the 'Training of Chartered Accountants' project at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and the first Director of its Technical Services (1984-85), a founder Partner of ACNABIN and Co., Chartered Accountants (1985-89), and Deputy Managing Director of the Continental Group of Bangladesh (1989-93) prior to his present position. In addition to his regular assignments, Nayeem worked as Mission Member and Consultant for UNDP, IFAD, SIDA, NORAD and CIDA in a number of projects in the financial management and micro credit fields in Bangladesh and abroad.

Showkat Hossain FCA elected Vice President is a Partner of Hoda Vasi Chowdhury and Co., Chartered Accountants, an independent affiliate firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu USA. Hossain has qualified as Chartered Accountant in the year 1976 from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh. He was graduated from City College-Chittagong and Articled with the then AF Ferguson and Co., Chartered Accountants. Hossain in his colorful career served in the Multinational and National Companies at home and abroad including and Large Petro-Chemical Complexes in the North Africa for around three decades. He was also Vice President-ICAB in 2004.

Dr. Jamaluddin Ahmed FCA elected Vice President is a Partner of Hoda Vasi Chowdhury and Co., Chartered Accounts, an independent affiliate firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Dr. Jamal obtained his Bachelor of Honours and Master Degree in Accounting from the University of Dhaka and qualified as Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB), Dr. Jamal was awarded PhD degree from the Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, UK in 1996. His basic area of research was on the "Aspects of International Influence over Accounting and Accounting for Adverse effect of Currency Devaluation: A Study of Foreign Currency Loan user Enterprises of Bangladesh". He is also the Treasurer of Bangladesh Economic Association.

SM Atiar Rahman FCA elected Vice President is a Partner, Masih Muhith Haque and Co., Chartered Accountants. He qualified as Chartered Accountant in 1989 from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and became Fellow of the Institute in 1994. SM Atiar Rahman FCA obtained Master degree in economics in 1977 from the University of Dhaka. He received professional training from Singapore, India and Sri Lanka on professional subjects. Also received training on Corporate Management under UNDP Project and participated at the International conference on Corporate Governance-Challenges in Implementation. Mr. Rahman is the Past President of the Lions Club of Dhaka, Diamond and Charter Member and Past Treasurer of Rotary Club of Dhaka, North East.

AUTOMOBILE

Ford investment in Asia
US auto giant Ford Motor Co announced that it would invest one billion dollars in Asia to boost growth in the region but remained mum on reported job cuts and plant closures in North America. Ford, like General Motors, is struggling with declining market share and reported a 1.2 billion dollar pre-tax loss in its North American operations in the third quarter of 2005. Ford is only using around 86 per cent of its North American assembly plant capacity, compared to 107 per cent at Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. In November 2005, GM said it would close nine North American plants as part of a hard-hitting restructuring plan that would cut 30,000 manufacturing jobs. In Thailand, Ford operates a joint venture with Japanese carmaker Mazda Motor, 33.3 per cent owned by the US giant, to produce one-tonne pickup trucks.

Siemens in Chinese motor joint venture
German engineering giant Siemens said it had agreed to set up a joint venture in the field of low-voltage motors in China. Siemens said in a statement that it had signed a corresponding contract with Jiangsu Beide Electrical Machinery Corporation. The venture, to be called Siemens Standard Motor Ltd, would be based in Yangzhou and would employ a workforce of about 1,500. It would focus on the development and manufacture of small and medium sized low-voltage motors.

GM eco-friendly engines
The US-based General Motors Corporation is to launch automobile products based on natural energy sources in 2006. GM has a very comprehensive and advanced strategy. They are working on active fuel system in which even if your vehicle is very accelerated you can shut off immediately at any point so that you can operate it with full speed and thus more efficiently. They likely to take center-stage in automobile sector and India will become one of the manufacturers of quality engines. ‘Hybrid technology is very important for GM and also for all other industries.

DEVELOPMENT

Industrial, services growth
The economy of the country has registered higher growth in the industrial and service and manufacturing bases, while that in farming sector showed gradual decrease over the last few years. A monetary policy review conducted by the recently formed policy analysis unit of the Bangladesh Bank shows, the share of industrial sector increased every year, to 28.44 in fiscal year-05 of the gross domestic product from 26.2 per cent in fiscal year-01, while in the service sector it has the highest share of GDP reaching 49.65 per cent in fiscal year-05. The share of agriculture in GDP decreased gradually over the years to 21.91 per cent in FY05, from 25.03 per cent of total GDP in FY 01. The disposable income and private consumption are estimated to have grown at the rate of 6.27 per cent and 4.41 per cent respectively in FY05, which are consistent with the average growth of 5.67 per cent and 4.41 per cent respectively during the last five years.

Govt, ADB to implement dev projects
The government and Asian Development Bank are jointly implementing governance and infrastructure improvement projects in 25 municipalities under Urban Governance and Infrastructure Improvement Project, costing Tk 516.38 crore since April last year. LGED is providing technical supports to the municipalities for the successful implementation of the projects. Municipalities' chairmen informed the meeting about the progress of the projects and some problems that created impediments in implementing the projects.

UK to provide grants
Bangladesh will receive 57.5 million pound-starlings (Taka 660.13 crore) as grants from the United Kingdom (UK) for implementing a Rural Electrification Development Programme (REDP) and a Remittance and Payments Partnership Project. The UK has agreed to provide Bangladesh with another fund of 100 million pound-starling as grants for a health sector project- HNPHP.

'Branding on Rails'
For the first time in Bangladesh Bits & Brushes, an innovative Media Agency, has signed up with the ad giant Unitrend Limited for Bangladesh Railway branding with naming the concept 'Branding on Rails' at a signing ceremony at Unitrend's corporate office the city recently. From now on most of the carriages in Suborno Express the train which runs beween Dhaka and Chittagong will be branded with advertisements and pictures inside to make it more attractive for the passengers who will travel through this particular train.

INVESTMENT

US company to invest in different sectors
WG Petroleum LLC, a US-based company, has showed keen interest in investing 2.50 billion US dollar in gas and refinery sectors of Bangladesh. The WG Petroleum signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the local Madina Gas Company recently for investment in Sylhet and Chittagong. Considering bright prospects, TATA, Dhabi Group of UEA and other world's big entrepreneurs are coming to invest in Bangladesh. Willam Gast said investors from many countries, including the United States, are eager to invest in Bangladesh.

Wockhardt at Dhaka
Wockhardt Hospitals, the premier chain of super specialty hospitals and an affiliate hospital of Harvard Medical International of USA in India, is a part of Wockhardt group, India's leading research and pharmaceutical company and a front runner in biotechnology and one of the best known grands in health care sector from India. The Spry, the local patients information and liaison office is headed by Lutfur Rahman Chowdhury and Afroza Sarwar and is located at house 60, Apt-G/A, Road No-9/A, Dhanmondi, Dhaka. The service rendered by Dhaka office will be free of cost.

AGRICULTURE

Fruits, vegetables destroyed each year!
Fruits and vegetables worth approximately Tk 3 thousand and a half crores is destroyed each year in our country. Source said, this is due to lack of proper collection, preservation and transportation. Every year 10 lakh tons of fruits, valued at Tk 400 crore and fifty lakh tons of vegetables and other crops valued at about Tk 3,000 crore are destroyed at the collection stage. To reduce this loss, fruits and vegetables need proper preservation, transportation and processing. If proper transportation and processing of these fruits and vegetables, most of the nutrition demand of our country could be met as well as sizable foreign exchange earned.

AGREEMENT

Banglalink – EBL accord
Banglalink, a fast growing cell phone operator in the country, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL) in the city recently. Under the MoU the both party will enable to participate in the betterment of the SME's sector of the country. Now with this understanding between two companies, Banglalink will provide the telecommunication facilities to those SME's on which EBL is currently working.

HSBC accord with Sheraton
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Ltd in Bangladesh has signed a MoU with Dhaka Sheraton Hotel for HSBCs Premier customers, at the hotel's premises recently. Under the MoU, HSBC Premier customers will enjoy certain exclusive benefits from Sheraton including usage of Balaka VIP customer lounge at Zia International Airport free of cost, discounts at Sheraton's exclusive Vintage restaurant and many other special offers.

BTTB, Harris Corp accord
The US-based Harris Corporation will commission the microwave (radio) link from Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong to expand BTTB capacity. The link would multiply the existing capacity of Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong link by three times.

Beximco anti-AIDS drugs
Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited recently introduced its anti-AIDS drugs to local non-government organisations (NGOs) engaged in the anti-AIDS campaign. The drugs included Avifanz, Avifix, Avilam, Diavix and Triovix in tablet form, which were introduced as part of the company’s awareness programme.

Virgin to offer frequent flyers space trips
Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways said it is offering its frequent flyers free trips to space in two and a half years’ time. Virgin Atlantic said its Flying Club members will be able to convert their earthly miles into space miles. Virgin Galactic, a unit of Virgin Group, is the first company to develop commercial flights to space. Members will need to earn two million flying club miles to be able to redeem them for a trip with Virgin Galactic into space, the airline said. The cost of the project is a quarter of a billion dollars, to build five spaceships and to develop a space station.

ICT

Google agrees for AOL
Google Inc, the world’s most-used Internet search engine, agreed to pay $1 billion for 5 per cent of Time Warner Inc’s America Online unit, shutting out rival bidder Microsoft Corp. An agreement between AOL and Google is a blow to Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, which initiated discussions with AOL in January, eight months before Google. Mountain View, California-based Google, the most used search engine, will retain AOL as its largest client and be able to wage a better challenge to Yahoo! Inc.’s news and entertainment Web sites. Under the agreement, which values AOL at $20 billion, Google will display AOL links beside Internet search results and will get access to AOL’s search engine for trawling online videos, the person said. America Online would also be able to sell display, or banner advertisements, on other Web sites that use Google’s ad systems.

Online solution key to banking growth
Experts at a seminar in Dhaka said banks now-a-days foster their growth turning to real-time transactions, consolidated customer views and scalability through automation as well as the true online solution. Successful implementation of the core software among the bank branches in the country and financial houses is inevitable, they suggested. Dataedge Ltd in association with India’s i-flex Solutions organised the seminar, which was attended by senior bankers and online experts from different organisations recently.

Japanese firm to develop software in Bangladesh
RECS Technology Inc of Japan and LeadSoft Bangladesh Limited of Bangladesh have signed an agreement for outsourcing software development from Bangladesh for RTI's customers in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and other countries in the region. Under the arrangement LeadSoft will customize and enhance an ERP solution and a treasury management solution as per requirements of large Japanese Corporations. This requires a real-time online communication set up, including video-conferencing, between RTI's office in Tokyo and LeadSoft's development centre in Dhaka.

Microsoft fined $32m
The South Korean regulators ruled that US software giant Microsoft has abused its market dominance and violated fair trade rules, fining the firm 33 billion won ($32 million). Microsoft, which denies any wrongdoing, was also ordered to remove parts of bundled software from its Windows operating system, the Fair Trade Commission said.