The New Nation - Internet Edition

DBBL signs deal with Q-Cash for sharing ATM/POS network

BUSINESS REPORT

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) signed an agreement with Q-Cash for sharing ATM/POS network at a simple ceremony held in Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on March 11.

Under the agreement, customers of all member banks of Q-Cash can avail the opportunities of withdrawing money and get other services from DBBL ATM network. Mentionable that DBBL has the largest ATM network in the country. The customers of Q-Cash member banks can also use DBBL's POS network for payment of their shopping/dining bills at shops and restaurants.

Iqbal U Ahmed, Managing Director of Trust Bank Limited, Dewan Mujibur Rahman, Managing Director of Mercantile Bank Limited, Kazi Saifuddin Munir, CEO of IT Consultant Limited and Md. Yeasin Ali, Managing Director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Among others, SA Chowdhury, Managing Director of Sonali Bank Limited, Md Nurul Amin, Managing Director of NCC Bank Limited, Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, Managing Director of Pubali Bank Limited, Muhammed Ali, Managing Director of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited, Kazi Md. Shafiqur Rahman, Managing Director of Mutual Trust Bank Limited, Ali Reza Iftekhar, Managing Director of Eastern Bank Limited and Senior Executives from different member banks of Q-Cash were present on the occasion.

Aktel Dhaka Travel Mart begins today in city

BUSINESS REPORT

A three-day International Tourism Fair, styled 'Aktel Dhaka Travel Mart 2008' begins today at Winter Garden of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Syed Mohammad Zobaer will formally inaugurate the exhibition at 10.30am at the Ball Room of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. The Bangladesh Monitor will be hosting the fifth edition of the International Tourism Fair.

Leading cellphone operator Aktel is playing host as the Title Sponsor of the event, while Biman Bangladesh Airlines, GMG Airlines, Eastern Bank Ltd, Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) and Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) are acting as premium partners. Channel-I, Radio Today and English daily The Daily Star are acting as media partners.

A total of 44 organisations from twelve different countries, including host Bangladesh are taking part in Aktel Dhaka Travel Mart-2008, which includes National Tourism Organisation, airlines, tour operators, hotels, resorts, travel trade bodies, financial and educational institutions.

Participating organisations during the three-day exhibition will offer special discounted airfares, tour packages and a host of other offers to the visitors.

Visitors will be able to go around the fair from 10:00am to 8:00pm on all the three days paying an entry fee of Tk 20. Travel trade partners will be able to hold one to one parleys from 10:00am to 12:00pm. A raffle draw on the entry coupons will be held on the concluding day on March 15 at 7.30pm at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. Prizes will include airline tickets to various destinations home and abroad and other exciting tour packages, hotel stays and meal vouchers.

A seminar on the 'Eco' and the newest trend 'Geo should be the mainstay of Bangladesh tourism' will be held on the sideline of the exhibition on March 14, which will be organised jointly by The Bangladesh Monitor and Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Dhaka University.

Dhaka Travel Mart 2008: Etihad Airways offers exclusive 10pc discount

BUSINESS REPORT

Etihad Airways Bangladesh is going to extend an exclusive offer of 10% discount* on their market fares at the upcoming Dhaka Travel Mart to be held from March 13 -15, 2008.

The offer is exclusively applicable for the duration of the Travel Mart only. Interested guests are requested to visit the Etihad Booth at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel to confirm their booking to avail the discount or fax a reservation form to the Etihad Airways office at 8831269 or call 8831247,8819540, and 8819542. After making a reservation during this period, ticketing must to be completed by March 22, 2008 to avail the offer. And out bound travel must commence by May 31, 2008.

London, Manchester, Frankfurt, Dublin, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Geneva, Toronto, New York, and Milan are the destinations eligible for the discount offer. 'Etihad is always keen to provide the best service to its valued guests. I hope all Etihad guest will enjoy 10% discount offer at Dhaka Travel Mart,' said K. Ashraful Kabir, country manager, Etihad Airways Bangladesh while commenting on the upcoming exclusive offer.

Etihad Airways Bangladesh now operates 7 flights a week between Dhaka-Abu Dhabi route. Visit us at the Travel Mart at the Sheraton Hotel or contact us at our office Etihad Airways Molly Capita Centre, 7th floor, Plot CES (F)-04, road 127, Gulshan Avenue, Dhaka 1212. Phone: 8831258,8831247, Fax: 8831269.

JETRO's assistance to Bangladesh food sector

BUSINESS REPORT

To promote local food items in Japanese market and to explore new opportunities in Japan, JETRO the Official Trade and Investment Promotion agency of the Government of Japan has taken an initiative to facilitate local food and food items manufacturers (Agricultural Products, Eggs and Poultry, Frozen Food Products, Fruits and Vegetables, Herbal & Organic Products, Seafood, Coffee and Tea, Fruit Juice, Mineral Water, Soft Drinks etc) to enter Japanese market by participating FOODEX in Japan.

FOODEX Japan is the biggest food and beverage exhibition in the Asia and the whole of the Asia Pacific region. This is a global food exhibition; the world attends FOODEX Japan to exhibit their food and beverage with the aim of entering the Japanese market.

In 2007 this world-class event attracted 95,719 registered visitors comprising of wholesalers, importers, retailers and food manufacturers. The exhibition comprised of 3,479 booths, with exhibitors of 2425 from 64 counties and regions.

Next FOODEX Japan 2008 will be held at Makuhari Messe, Nippon Convention Center, Chiba-city in Japan during March 11-14, 2008. For local companies JETRO has subsidised the participation fee by 89 per cent for each 9 sqm (3mX3m) booth. Along with providing subsidised booth, JETRO will arrange free supermarket tour, Interpreters for business negotiations, Consultation services by experts in the Japanese food industry, Public relations activities for better understanding of Japanese business custom's and to have sufficient knowledge to do business with Japanese market.

To attract participants for next 'FOODEX 2008,' JETRO Dhaka invites application from companies which do not have any agent, dealer or partner in Japan through related associations. Enormous response was received and finally five companies have been tentatively selected. Among them, one company has finally been selected. The company is Bangla Natural Agro Ltd. The company will demonstrate Neem Leaf, Turmeric, Guava leaf, Neem Cake, Bitter Gourd etc during the exhibition.

It should be noted here that, Bangla Natural Agro Limited was also used JETRO support to participate for FOODEX 2007. During the FOODEX 2007, products of Bangla Natural Agro Limited got enormous attention from visitors. Among all the 1668 overseas exhibitors the product (Neem leaf) of the Bangladeshi company ranked 14th position as a new product in Japanese market. For more information of FOODEX Japan 2007 please log onto http://www2.jma.or.jp/foodexlen/index.html

JETRO hopes that it is a good opportunity for local companies to introduce their goods to promising Japanese food market that import 60 per cent of total needs of food a demands and the current size of this market is about 1.3 trillion yen and is expected to grow in the future.

Chinese (HK) industry to invest $10m in DEPZ

BUSINESS REPORT

M/s. South China Bleaching and Dyeing Factory Limited, a Chinese company in the is going for expansion of their dyeing and finishing fabric industry in the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ).

This 100 per cent foreign-owned company will enhance their production capacity with additional investment of US$10 million, and including this, the total investment will stand at US$30 million. This company will also create new job opportunity for additional 200 Bangladeshi with implementation of their expansion programme.

An agreement to this effect was signed between the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and M/s. South China Bleaching and Dyeing Factory Limited in BEPZA Complex, Dhaka on Tuesday.

AZM Azizur Rahman, General Manager (Investment Promotion) of BEPZA and Mohamed Subaid Ali, Director-Finance of M/s South China Bleaching and Dyeing Factory Limited signed the lease agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

The Executive Chairman of BEPZA and other officials were present on this occasion.

Visiting Chinese delegation holds meeting with DCCI

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) organised a business meeting with the 21-member delegation from China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles (CCCT) on March 11 at the DCCI auditorium.

DCCI Acting President Salahuddin Abdullah chaired and conducted the business meeting. The objective of the meeting were to explore investment possibilities in Bangladesh and enhance trade and economic cooperation between Bangladesh and China.

In his welcome address, DCCI Acting President mentioned that in 2006-07 Bangladesh exported products worth of about US$93 million to China against import of US$ 2534 million. Trade gap is US$ 2441 million. Since Bangladesh has competitiveness in RMG sector, China-Bangladesh Cooperation can work better if Chinese investment for establishing backward linkage industries in the field of textile and clothing can be attracted. Bangladesh has made excellent progress in the knitwear sector also, Chinese cooperation can give further boost to this sector. Jute-based textiles can also be to explored for further expansion.

Leader of the Chinese delegation and CCCT Vice-Chairman Cao Xin Yu assured DCCI all cooperation and supports for setting up textile and textile related industries in Bangladesh. In his speech, he informed that this 21-member delegation include respectively from 10 large textile companies who have reputation in manufacturing fabric, chemical and textile machineries at world standard level. They want to set up fabric manufacturing, textile machineries and chemical industries in Bangladesh. Among others, DCCI Vice-President Khandaker Shahidul, DCCI Directors and a large number of concerned businessmen were present in the meeting.

Bengal Adhesive holds annual dealers' meeting

BUSINESS REPORT

Country's leading business group Bengal's sister concern, Bengal Adhesive & Chemical Products arranged its annul dealers' meet on March 6 last at Bashundhara City Grand Hall, Dhaka.

The function was presided over Alhaj Shamsul Alam where Md. Jashimuddin (CIP), Vice-Chairman of Bengal Group was present as the chief guest.

Lt Col (Retd) Arifur Rahman, GM, Admn, Bengal Group, Md. Zahirul Haque, Manager, Marketing, Bengal Adhesive & Chemical Products Ltd spoke, among others, on the occasion.

More than 600 dealers from all over Bangladesh attended the dealers' meet. It is mentionable that Bengal's DACO adhesive and foam are getting popularity day by day among consumers of the country because of its excellent quality and price structure.