The New Nation - Internet Edition

DITF gets Tk 40cr export orders, Tk 25cr goods sold

ECONOMIC REPORTER

The 13th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), organised by Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the city, concluded yesterday with the extension of one week.

Adviser for Education and Commerce Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman formally declared the conclusion of the DITF 2008 as the chief guest.

During the 38 days of DITF, it fetched sales worth Tk 25 crore and received export orders amounting Tk 40 crore.

The EPB sources said more than 50 lakh people visited the fair and entry tickets worth Tk 2 crore were sold.

Compared to the previous years, selling of goods at this year's fair was not so encouraging. Participants at the pavilions and stalls attributed the discouraging sales to the economic sluggishness prevailing in the country. However, the selling of electronics, cosmetics, cell phone sets and household goods was 30 per cent higher than previous year.

Goods worth Tk 25 crore were sold during the 38 days of the fair. Besides, export orders worth Tk 40 crore were received at the DITF this year. Moreover, value added tax (VAT) worth Tk 40 lakh on sales at the fair were deposited till yesterday and the amount was two and a half times higher than previous year.

A large number of visitors visited the fair yesterday, the last day of the fair, which was participated by 15 organisations from seven foreign countries.

Among the participants, six organizations of Pakistan took part in the DITF, while India's three organizations participated in the fair. As a partner country, Thailand built a special pavilion at this year's trade fair. Other participating countries were Japan, Singapore, Turkey and the United States.

Besides, a total of 395 organisations of Bangladesh took part in the fair and exhibited their export-oriented products.

Since the state of emergency now prevails in the country, special security measures were taken for this year's trade fair. There were as many as 40 close-circuit television cameras installed around the fair. Several security personnel monitored the movements of visitors at the DITF sitting inside three rooms.

The traffic department gave lease the parking lot of the fair at Tk 8.26 lakh. According to the traffic department, some Tk 50,000 were earned per day from parking of vehicles at the DITF premises this year. However, the income went down to k 20,000 due to inclement weather for four days.

There were huge dust, lack of water in the toilets, parking problems and complaints of charging exorbitantly at the food shops.

Dhaka, Delhi fix rice import price at $399 per tonne

Economic Reporter

Bangladesh and India have fixed US$399 as the price of one tonne of rice that the neighbouring country had agreed to export to Bangladesh following the attack of cyclone Sidr.

The decision was taken Wednesday, the final day of a four-day meeting in Kolkata between a Bangladesh delegation and Indian officials, according to the BBC Bangla Service.

The director general of the Directorate of Food led the Bangladesh delegation in the meeting while chief secretary and commissioner of the food ministry of West Bengal led the Indian side.

The meeting decided that representatives of both the countries would inform their governments of the summary of the meeting's outcome for approval. If the governments approve the decision, Bangladesh will import five lakh tonnes of rice from India in the next three months, the import beginning in the last week of February.

As per the decision of the meeting, four lakh tonnes of rice will be imported in the first two months, with two lakh tonnes each month. The remaining one lakh tonne will be imported in the third month.

The meeting also decided that the rice would be imported through rail, road and river ways. The three-member Bangladesh team led by Molla Wahiduzzaman went to Kolkata on February 3.

World Bank chief safely bets on Chinese economist

AFP, Washington

In confiding World Bank research services to a Chinese economist, president Robert Zoellick has signaled to emerging-market countries his desire to see their representation grow, without taking major risks.

Justin Lin Yifu, the founding director of the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University, was appointed Monday the chief economist of the multilateral development lender, succeeding Frenchman Francois Bourguignon in May.

He will be the first economist of a developing country to occupy the post, which has been held by such luminaries as Stanley Fischer, Lawrence Summers and 2001 Nobel laureate in economics.

Joseph Stiglitz.

"In some ways this is a stroke of genius on Bob Zoellick's part," said Dennis de Tray, vice president of the Center for Global Development, a think tank in Washington.

"He's got himself a good economist who has an international reputation, who has solid credentials in probably the most important emerging-market economy," de Tray said.

At the same time the Bank president is sending "a clear signal to the middle-income countries, that are one of Mr. Zoellick's six priorities areas, that he is serious about bringing them into the tent."

Daniel Bradlow, a law professor and director of the International Legal Studies Program at American University in the US capital, agreed.

"It does suggest more openness in Zoellick in having emerging markets occupy positions of influence in the Bank," Bradlow said.

More specifically, "it's part of the China charm offensive," the law professor said, referring to efforts by Zoellick, a former US trade representative, to persuade China to contribute in a more coordinated fashion its aid to the poorest countries.

China, considered a major rival to the multilateral lenders, particularly in Africa, joined in December a group of new contributor countries to the International Development Association, the arm of the Bank that helps the poorest countries.

Warid Telecom training on 'Selling Skills' for sales team

Warid Telecom organised a two-day training course on "Selling Skills" for its sales team on February 1 and 2 last at a hotel in Dhaka.

Upaul Majumdar, the Master Trainer from India, conducted the training organised in association with Rapport Bangladesh.

The main objective of this training was to provide an opportunity for the sales team to synchronise the theoretical knowledge with the practical side of the business, a press release said.

CEO of Warid Telecom Muneer Farooqui handed over certificates to the participants at the concluding ceremony.

Mr. Farooqui thanked all the participants for their active and enthusiastic participation in the training course and asked them to hone their selling skills by applying experience earned from the training in the practical field.

Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, General Manager (HR & Admin), Naveed Saeed, General Manager (Sales & Marketing), Ashraful Haque Chowdhury, General Manager (Govt. & Operator Relations), Mahboob Hossain, General Manager (Sales), Masroor H. Shah, Head of HR, of Warid Telecom and Dr. M. Mosharraf Hossain, MD of Rapport Bangladesh, were present.

StanChart, British Council hold prize giving ceremony

Economic Reporter

British Council and Standard Chartered Bank organised a prize giving ceremony for the raffle draw winners who registered for their GCE and IELTS examinations through service 1. Mir Lamya Liaquat, Raju Romeo Gomes, Rushde-E-Alam Ali and Sk Rizve Hasan were the four lucky winners.

British Council service 1 counters at Standard Chartered Bank's designated branches have been designed to provide an efficient one stop customer service to its exams candidates. These service booths are located at Standard Chartered Bank's Dhanmondi, Uttara, Gulshan and Sheraton branches. Candidates can collect and drop xam registration forms and make necessary payments at dedicated counter. This is part of British Council and Standard Chartered Bank's on-going initiative to provide better customer service.

Peter Ashton, Director-Examinations, British Council Bangladesh and Mirza Aminur Rahman, Director and Head of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered handed out attractive gifts to the winners. Other officials from both organisations were also present at the ceremony.