The New Nation - Internet Edition

Islamic Development Bank and Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited are carrying on relief distribution activities among the distressed people affected by the recent devastating cyclone.

Financed by Islami Development Bank and under the supervision of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Barishal Branch food items, blanket and corrugated iron were distributed among 8 hundred affected people at Dinar, Saheberhat, Defulia Al Ekhwan Orphanage and Babuganj High School field. Rezaul Karim Khan, Nirbahi Officer of Barisal Sadar Upazila and Md. Yousuf Uddin Jabed Representative of Islami Development Bank, Jeddah distributed relief as the Chief Guest and Special Guest respectively. Md. Obaidul Hoque, Senior Vice President & Head of Rural Development Division, Md. Faizul Kabir, Vice President of Barishal Branch, Mahbub Alam, Assistant Vice President of Rural Development Division and Saiful Alam Khan, Senior Principal Officer of the Bank were present at this moment.

Financed by IDB and under the supervision of IBBL Kaliganj Branch relief goods were distributed among one thousand cyclone victims. Mohd. Jasim Uddin Khan, Kaliganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer distributed the relief as the Chief Guest. Md Manzurul Islam, Branch Manager, Mahfugur Rahman, Principal Officer, Khandaker Mahfuz Ahmed, Senior Officer and Sufia Begum, Head Mistress of Kaliganj Pilot Girs' School were present at this moment.

Financed by IDB and under the supervision of IBBL Patuakhali Branch food items, blanket and corrugated iron were distributed among the affected 2 thousand families at Patuakhali Sadar Upazila, Baufal, Dasmina, Dumki, Kalapara, Mirjaganj, Subidkhali, Galachipa and Rangabali' Upazila. Mahbub Alam, Assistant Vice President of Rural Development Division, Md. Sarwar Hossain, Branch Manager, Md. Nizam Uddin, Project Officer were present at this moment. Besides, the Bank distributed relief materials among 5 hundred families from it's own fund.

IBBL Satkhira Branch distributed relief materials among the affected people at Ashuganj Upazilla under Protapnagar Union. A. M. Riasat Ali Biswas, former Member of Parliament distributed the relief as the Chief Guest. Abdur Rouf, Branch Manager, Moulana Abdul Mannan, UP Chairman and Abu Dawd, former Chairman were present at this moment among others.

Grameenphone Ltd. has signed an agreement with Prime Bank Limited recently to provide complete communication facilities under its Business Solutions package to Prime Bank Limited.

GP Business Solutions is an integrated telecommunications service specially designed for the business entities of Bangladesh, providing customised telecommunications solutions through a consultative approach, tailored to the needs of individual businesses or organisation.

Prime Bank Limited, a bank with a difference, offers all kinds of Commercial, Corporate and Personal Banking services covering all segments of society. Diversification of products and services include Corporate Banking, Retail Banking and Consumer Banking, offering products for a diverse clientele ranging from industry to agriculture, and real state to software. GP Business Solutions, comprising of modern mobile telecommunications services for any business needs, provides voice, text messaging and mobile data and internet services. Also an offer is a complete Mobile-Office solution, including mobile email, mobile high-speed data access, internet access, mobile fax and more, providing the freedom to work from anywhere within Grameenphone's wide network coverage.

According to the agreement, Prime Bank Limited is being provided complete communications solutions tailored to the needs of its members, including voice, data and other services. Prime Bank Limited will use the services to further improve communication amongst its different branches, at an affordable cost. The agreement was signed by Nasiruddin Ahmed, Deputy Managing Director of Prime Bank Limited., and Laszlo Barta, Head of Sales of Grameenphone, on behalf of their respective organisations.

RQM Forkan, Deputy Managing Director, Shahanul Husain, Senior Vice President, Wing Commander Md. Tabarak Hossain Bhuiyan, psc (Retd), Head of HR, and other officials of Prime Bank Limited were present on the occasion. Rahat Khan, Head of Corporate Key Accounts, Arif ur Rahman Chowdhury, Deputy Manager and Shakib Altar, Deputy manager Director Sales of Grameenphone, were also present at the signing ceremony.

A delegation of Air Sylhet Plc, a first airlines company on international air route established by the Bangladeshi expatriates in UK, held an opinion exchange meeting with the journalists on Wednesday December 5, 2007 in a local hotel in the capital. The meeting was conducted by Air Sylhet Bangladesh Representative and Dhaka. Post Editor Prof Omar Faruque and was presided over by the Air Sylhet Chairman Kabir Khan. The Managing Director of the company Kim 0' Neil, Vice Chairman Alhaj Shab Uddin, Finance Director Selim Uddin Aviation Expert and Pilot Captain PA Sabittoni and Abu Rufian Bablu replied to a volley of questions raised by the journalists.

It is mentionable that a six-member delegation of Air Sylhet led by its Chairman Kabir Khan arrived in Dhaka on December 2 from the UK. In reply to different questions, the UK. Air Sylhet delegation said, though there are some other airlines companies established by the Bangladeshi expatriates, in Air Sylhet is the first airlines to be operated on the int'l route. They said that this company would be more attentive to the community welfare than the profit making activities. Talking about the objective of their visit to Bangladesh), they said that they were visiting Bangladesh to hold discussion with all aviation related organizations and take effective measures to launch their direct flight operation to Dhaka and Sylhet from the UK.

The delegation members said they had, in the meantime, held meetings with the civil aviation chairman and the senior officers of national fuel organisations and the officers of Dhaka and Sylhet airports. They also held a meeting with the Managing Director of Bangladesh Biman and inspected Dhaka and Sylhet airports. They also observed the ground handling and catering facilities of their aircraft in the airports. Another objective of this visit is to make the people in Bangladesh aware of the introduction of this newly established airlines by the Bangladeshi expatriates in UK, they added.

Company Chairman Kabir Khan apprised that all the preparations have ialready been made final and within a short time Air Sylhet will fly in the sky, Inshallah. The primary route of Air Sylhet would be London-Luton-Sharjah-Sylhet-Dhaka, he said adding that subsequently they would operate their flights on other int'l routes. Air Sylhet has confirmed the operation of Bowing 767 from UK to Bangladesh, he informed.

At the end of their four-day busy scheduled visit to Bangladesh the delegation left for London on December. 6, 2007.

The City Bank Limited has recently launched three new attractive deposit products for its customers. At a press conference held at a local hotel, bank's managing Director & CEO Kazi Mahmood Sattar launched the products saying that "these would add great value to our retail customers". Among these products, "City Onayash" is a special savings account that calculates interest on daily balance and pays out interest monthly; "City Projonmo" is a monthly savings scheme for children which is backed by a full insurance cover. In the event of death of guardian, the child can even get up to Tk. 59 lacs under this scheme; and "City Ichchapuron" is a unique fixed deposit account that pays out interest every month, hence offers the solution to bear monthly family maintenance expenses comfortably.

In the launch ceremony, bank's Head of Retail Banking Mashrur Arefin explained the features of the products while DMD (Operations) Raihan UI Ameen also spoke on Retail Bank's vision and goals. Also present were the divisional heads, the Dhaka area branch Managers, officials from media partner Dhansiri Media Production House and the representatives of all print and electronic media.

A renowned educationist of International fame, Stephen Murray has recently joined as the Chief Executive Officer of International School Dhaka (ISD).

Mr. Murray a British, has taught and been involved in education for over 30 years. He was until recently Headmaster/CEO of the well established and high performing Antwerp International School in Belgium.

Before moving to Belgium, he was Senior Consultant / Operations Manager for the West Australian Department of Education and Training, providing professional development for public and private school Principals. He has also been joint CEO of Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With representatives from over 30 partner agencies of more than 25 countries who are currently working with EMDS programmes around the word, the Annual Global Meet of network partners on 'Bridging the Use-Divide: Meet in Cairo 2007' concluded recently in the Eguptian capital of Cairo. . The aim of the event was to become a rich forum for the exchange of ideas on the use of the programmes, their results and outcomes, as well as for a cross fertilization of ideas and best practice.

Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Daffodil Group & Daffodil International University, the Bangladesh representative presented papers in the Cairo meet. In his paper, he talked about the growing scenario of Bangladesh and requested the leaders of the partner agencies to visit Bangladesh and invest for ICT development.

During the session (one week), the new National Centre in Egypt hosted lunch at Egypt's Foreign Trade Training Centre . Information and reports of the partner agencies hwere presented in the documentation for this year's meet.