The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Kurigram

When thousands of farmers are passing their days with great anxiety due to pest attack on their paddy field, some 2,652 farmers, who cultivated BRI-33 variety, are celebrating paddy harvest festival in the district.

While visiting Jatrapur, Ghogadoho and Panchgachhi unions in Sadar upazila on Saturday, UNB correspondent found that farmers are harvesting paddy with much enthusiasm. In the morning, field day on BRI-33 cultivation to challenge Monga was observed on the house premises of Bhoben Chandra Barman of Shakharipara village in Ghogadoho union. Deputy Commissioner of the district AR Mollah attended the programme as chief guest while local UNO Sayed Kutub was present as special guest.

Later, the DC inaugurated harvesting of paddy on the field of Rathin Chandra Barman.

Field trainer of Social Welfare department, Jatrapur union, Ferdousi Khatun told that her organization, with the help of local NGO RDRS, engaged 235 farmers to cultivate BRI-33 on 180 acres here.

The farmers have already started harvesting the paddy after the 102 days of cultivation, she said. Farmer Mojibur Rahman said he cultivated BRI-33 on his 66 decimals of land and got 17 maunds of paddy from where he produced only 12 maunds last season. "I can produce three crops from my land in a year.

After cultivating BRI-33, I will cultivate potato or mustard seeds or cauliflower and then Boro on my land," said farmer Rathin Chandra Barman.

RDRS official Ahmmed Hossain said 2,652 farmers have cultivated BRI-33 on 972 acres across the district and they have been able to harvest their paddy between 102 to 105 days without any pest attack of other diseases.

Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) of the University of Dhaka arranged a day-long training of trainers entitled 'Better Management of Migrant's Remittances: 2nd TOT for Capacity Building of Bank Officials', with the support of Manusher jonno Foundation on 27 October 2007.The training was organised for the district level bank officials. Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, Professor, Dept. of Political Science, University of Dhaka presented the key note paper on the overall migration scenario in Bangladesh and the contribution of remittance to the economy of Bangladesh.The training highlighted the remitting experiences of the migrants through banks at both sending and receiving ends. Through participatory process problems that constrained the remittances transaction, including wrong names in the form, name of branch, account name and number were discussed.

Dr C R Abrar, Coordinator RMMRU, highlighted the need for customer friendly services to the remittance receiving families. Ms. Valery McNevin, Remittance and Payments Partnership (RPP) Legal Adviser and Shahrear Md. Zamil, Relationship Manager, Secured Remittance Service, BRAC Bank Ltd. highlighted new methods that will have impact on future remittance transfer flow, such as - Instant Cash, Door-to-door services, Mobile-to-mobile services, etc.

The participants of the workshop comprised of 40 District level Bank Officials from Dhaka and Tangail. Md Nazrul Islam, AGM, F/C Management Division, Agrani Bank, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, AGM International Department of Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Mohd. Nazir Hossain Senior Principal Officer, Janata Bank Training Institute were among the other resource persons to conduct, the, training sessions.

UNB, Dhaka

Some 401 sacks of urea and other fertilizers were seized in four districts on Sunday.

In Dinajpur, two smugglers were arrested along with a truck loaded with 200 sacks of urea fertilizer at Fulbari-Dhaka crossing on Dinajpur-Gobindaganj highway in the afternoon.

Acting on a tip-off police intercepted the Dinajpur-bound truck at about 3:30pm. Later searching the truck they recovered the agri-input and arrested smuggler Dablu, 40, son of Ibrahim Ali of Bhabanagar village in Birganj upazila and truck driver Asabur Rahman, 35, son of Afsar Ali of Sheikhati village in Sadar upazila.

In Joypurhat district, some 120 sacks of fertilizers were seized from Jamalganj bazar in Akkelpur upazila on Sunday.

Local Department of Agriculture Extension official Rezaul Karim with the help of local people seized 80 sacks of TSP and 40 sacks of potash fertilizers when businessman Aslam was taking these to Gopinath area in three shallow engine driven three-wheeler 'Nasimons'.

In Shariatpur, being tipped off, a police team led by agriculture official Dr Rezaul, raided Khoajpur Tekerhat area in Sadar upazila in the afternoon and seized five rickshaw vans loaded with 41 sacks of urea fertilizer.

The officials also arrested the five van drivers - Yusuf, 22, Osman, 26, Shipon, 19, Nurul Huq, 18, and Delwar, 20.

In Sirajganj, some 40 sacks of urea fertilizer were seized at Ghatiar Char in Sadar upazila in the morning. Police said local people gheraoed a river ghat in the area at about 10am and seized the fertilizer while being taken away in a boat by some smugglers. Police later took the fertilizer to the thana and informed the local agriculture officials.

Malaysian Palm Oil Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU with The Bangladesh Monitor in a city hotel on October 25,2007 to become the Title Sponsor of the Chief of the Year Competition 2007.

AKM Fakhrul Alam, Country Manager, Malaysian Palm Oil Council and Kazi Wahidul Alam Editor, The Bangladesh Monitor signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.

Eminent nutritionist Siddiqua Kabir, Chairman of the Jury Committee of the competition was also present on the occasion.

Kazi Wahidul Alam said, "We are very happy to have a renowned organisation like Malaysian Palm Oil Council as the Title Sponsor.

It will add a new dimension to the competition, being organised by us for the third time in a row."

AKM Fakhrul Alam said, "We are pleased to joint hands with The Bangladesh Monitor for a popular competition, as it will provide us with exposure to the end users, the housewives and the professional Chefs."

The Bangladesh Monitor, the premier travel journal of the country, as in the last two years, is the Lead Organiser of the competition to be held in December.

An Emergency General Meeting of the shareholders of IFIC Bank was held on 25.10.2007 at a local hotel in Dhaka. It was followed by the 27th, 28th, 29th & 30th Annual General Meetings of the shareholders for the years 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006 respectively. The meetings were presided over by Mohammad Lutfar Rahman, Vice Chairman of the Bank. Other members of the Board of Directors namely, Abdul Hamid Chowdhury, Abu Tahir Mohammad Golam Maruf, Murshed Murad Ibrahim Aminur Rahman, Md. Yasin Ali, Didarul Alam, Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, Tanim Noman Sattar, Mahmudul Huq Bhuiyan, Arastoo Khan and Mohammad Ali Khan were also present on the occasion along with the Managing Director Mashiur Rahman.

A large number of shareholders attended the meetings.

Mohammad Lutfar Rahman, Vice Chairman welcomed the shareholders and reviewed the performance and growth of the Bank to date and assured the shareholders to undertake more effective steps for further growth and reputation of the Bank in the coming years.

The Balance Sheet & Profit and Loss Accounts of the bank as on December 31, 2003, December 31, 2004, December 31, 2005 and December 31, 2006 were unanimously approved by the shareholders after detailed discussions on these accounts which also included the Director's Report for the years 2003 to 2006. It was appreciated in the meetings that the performance of the bank during these 4 (four) years were quite satisfactory in respect of deposit, foreign exchange business, advances and recovery of loans.

The Bank declared dividend for the shareholders in the form of bonus shares @ 10 pc for the years 2003,2004 & 2005 respectively and 24 pc for the year 2006.

Three (3) Directors namely - Al-Haj Mohammad Mosaddak Ali, Enayetur Rahman & Abdul Hamid Chowdhury have retired and 5(five) Directors namely - Mohammad Lutfar Rahman, Abu Tahir Mohammad Golam Mamf, Murshed Murad Ibrahim, Aminur Rahman and Md. Yasin Ali were reelected in the Annual General Meetings. Besides 3(three) Directors namely - Didarul Alam, Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat and Tanim Noman Sattar were newly elected in the vacant positions.

Moreover, 4(four) Directors were re-appointed in the Board of the Bank by the Government namely Mahmudul Huq Bhuiyan, Arastoo Khan, Syed Manzurul Islam Joint Secretaries, Ministry of Finance and Mohammad Ali Khan ndc. Joint Secretary, Women & Children Affairs, Government of Bangladesh.

On the occasion the Managing Director Mashiur Rahman gave replies to various queries made by the shareholders. He also requested the shareholders to take more interest with the bank for making better understanding and co-operation between the Management and the shareholders with regard to the growth and progress of the Bank in future.

BASF has donated Tk 29,14,934 to the flood victims of Bangladesh. The donation included one day's salary of the employees of BASF Bangladesh and contribution from BASF East Asia Regional Headquarters, Hong Kong.

As corporate and social responsible citizen BASF always helps the suffering people through out the world.

BASF is the world's leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products, agricultural products and fine chemicals to crude oil and natural gas. As a reliable partner to virtually all industries, BASF's high-value products and intelligent system solutions help its customers to be more successful. BASF develops new technologies and uses them to meet the challenges of the future and open up additional market opportunities. It combines economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility, thus contributing to a better future. BASF has approximately 95,000 employees and posted sales of Euro 52.6 billion in 2006, BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

BASF Bangladesh Limited is a subsidiary of BASF AG, Germany and one of the leading chemical companies in Bangladesh. It is the leading supplier to textile, leather, pharmaceuticals, paper, paint, plastic & packaging, agrochemicals, animal feed, human nutrition, construction chemical segments. It is also one of the leading multinational companies in Bangladesh and a recognised big taxpayer to Bangladesh Government

Xinhua, Nanning

Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan on Sunday hailed the achievements China has made since 1978 when the country launched the reform and opening up drive, saying that China has witnessed extensive and fundamental changes in its economic and social fields.

While delivering a keynote speech at the opening of the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Zeng cited that China's annual GDP growth averaged 9.7 percent from 1978 to 2006.

He noted, the country's total trade volume increased from 20.6 billion US dollars to 1.76 trillion US dollars during the same period.

Zeng said that since the beginning of this year, China's economy has maintained a steady and rapid development.

especially in the sectors of agriculture, industry, investment, consumption and foreign trade, adding, "Enterprises yielded growing profits, governments reported rises in financial revenues, and urban and rural people got a greater income, and all grew by a large margin."

He stressed that product quality, especially food safety, has greatly improved.

However, the vice premier said, "we should keep a sober mind and realize that problems have remained in our economy, which are unreasonably faster economic growth, rising pressure on resources and the environment, excessive capital liquidity, fast food price hikes and imperfect economic system."

Airways has successfully launched its new three flights-a-week service to Singapore and Brisbane.

Flight EY470 took-off on schedule on Friday morning from Abu Dhabi airport at 10.05am bound for Singapore before heading onwards to the Queensland state capital of Brisbane.

Demand has been great for the new flights to Singapore and Brisbane with the seat factor for both destinations approaching 70 per cent in economy class and 65 per cent in business class for the month of October.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' Chief Executive, said: "Etihad continues to expand its global flight network offering our customers frequent connections to many of the world's most popular business and leisure destinations. The UAE is building strong commercial and cultural ties with Singapore and the Australian state of Queensland and the new Etihad flights will give these ties a significant boost." Singapore is Etihad's fifth destination in the Far East to add to Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, which was launched in January 2007, Brisbane is the airline's second destination in Australia following the highly successful Sydney route which started in March this year.

Other new Etihad destinations which have been launched in 2007 include Dublin and Milan as well as the southern Indian cities of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

Etihad operates a two cabin Airbus A330-200 from Abu Dhabi to Singapore and Brisbane. The aircraft is configured to carry 262 passengers, with 22 in business class and 240 in economy.