The New Nation - Internet Edition

Ananda Shipyard signs $67m deal with German company

BUSINESS REPORT

The Ananda Shipyard and Slipways Ltd (ASSL) have signed US$67 million agreement with Hermann Lohmann Bereederunges GmbH & Co, Germany yesterday to build four sea-going vessels.

Under the deal, ASSL will build and deliver 71 DWT Multipurpose vessels by 2012. It was the third German company to undersign ship building agreement with ASSL.

The agreement was signed between the two parties at its Meghnaghat Shipyard, Narayanganj.

According to a press release, issued by ASSL, formal execution of the shipbuilding contact will start from June 1st, 2008 and delivery is expected by 2011 to 2012.

The contract was signed by Afruja Bari, Managing Director of ASSL and Captain Hermann Lohmann, Managing Director of Hermann Lohmann Bereederunges GmbH & Co, Germany.

However, the ASSL is currently building two 10 multipurpose cargo vessels for two Germen companies. Plate cutting ceremony of those two ships were formally started on the occasion.

Plate cutting was switched on by Ernst P Komrowski, President and owner of the Komrowski Maritime GmbH, Germany. Senior Vice Prsident of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd Nurul Islam and representative of Germanischer Lloyd M Mehrul Karim, Dr Abdullahel Bari, Chairman and other officials of the company were also present on the occasion.

Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Dhaka Regency's cooks prepare delicious dishes

BUSINESS REPORT

British High Commission in Dhaka organised a grand reception to celebrate the Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on May 8 at the High Commission premises in the city.

Dhaka Regency-the city's newest 5-Star business hotel had the proud privilege of catering this prestigious function. A pool of 25 smartly turned out waiters and waitresses and eight well-experienced cooks served and prepared a well thought various cold dishes befitting the occasion. The reception party was attended by about 1000 elites from the city.

Lafarge seeks legal support to fight against propaganda

BUSINESS REPORT

The Lafarge Surma Cement authorities have decided to seek legal assistance to identify and take action against the group, who has recently distributed leaflets against the company in Sylhet.

Head of Communications and CSR of Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd Mohiuddin Babar said in a written statement, that his company had registered a general diary (GD) against the unidentified group, who tried to defame the company on the basis of fallacious information against their products quality.

According to him, attention is drawn to the circulation of leaflets, containing false accusations against the Supercrete product of his company.

"These remarks are baseless, unfounded and ill-motivated," he added.

He also discarded all the accusations which were made in the leaflet, claiming that the company was producing low quality products that could not be used in any construction.

"The state-of-the-art Lafarge Surma Cement plant at Chhatak has been built by the world's leader in building materials Lafarge of France and renowned Spanish cement maker Cementos Molins and started production in 2006," he said.

The plant is equipped with a sophisticated quality control laboratory that continuously tests the properties of the final product before it is sold to our customers. It is the only laboratory in Bangladesh, which has such sophisticated and reliable equipments, materials and quality control systems, he added.

"In addition to our own testing which is done on line on a daily basis, we regularly have our cement tested by BUET, an independent external laboratory," he elaborated.

According to him, all the BUET test results so far have exceeded the standard requirements for cement. Accusing our products is surely an act of deliberate offense against our reputation and we are committed to defeat them through legal means, Head of Communications of Lafarge Surma Cement Mohiuddin Babar added.

HSBC celebrates one lakh customers

BUSINESS REPORT

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Ltd recently celebrated its 100,000 th customer in Bangladesh.

Since establishing in Bangladesh in 1996, HSBC has grown into one of the country's leading financial institutions offering a wide range of retail banking products and services for its valued customers

Speaking about reaching the milestone, HSBC Bangladesh Chief Executive Officer, Steve Banner said, "We are proud to be growing our business in Bangladesh and are grateful to our customers for the trust and confidence that they have shown in us. We remain committed to delivering the best possible service to each and everyone of our customers."

To commemorate the 1 lakh customer milestone, HSBC has launched a special promotion, offering a 10 per cent interest rate for 7-months on new money deposits of BDT 1 lakh. This promotional campaign will run for the next two months.

Premier Bank holds doa, milad mahfil for Moulana Azizur Rahman

BUSINESS REPORT

The Premier Bank Ltd. has organised a Doa Mahfil for late Hazrat Moulana Azizur Rahman (Kaed Saheb Hujur) (R:). Bank's Shariah Council sub committee organised the programme.

BH Haroon, Vice Chairman of The Premier Bank Ltd and the convenor of Premier Bank's sub-committee of shariah council presided over the doa and discussion on the occasion, while bank's director Abdus Salam Murshedy was present as special guest.

Khondker Fazle Rashid, managing director, Md Mokhlesur Rahman, addl managing director of the Premier Bank Limited also spoke on the occasion. Professor Dr ARM Ali Haider Al-Murshedi, member Shariah Council and eminent Poet Moulana Ruhul Amin Khan, Executive Editor of the Daily Inqilab were also spoke on the occasion.

BH Haroon, in his speech, sketched the wonderful and meaningful contribution for Islam of late Hazrat Moulana Azizur Rahman (Kaed Saheb Hujur) (R:). Khondker Fazle Rashid also spoke on the occasion.

Emirates out in force at Arabian Travel Market

Dubai, UAE

Emirates, the Official Carrier of the 2008 Arabian Travel Market, will bring more than 50 staff from across the group to the event to highlight the breadth of the company's offering.

Mike Simon, Emirates! Divisional Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, said: iArabian Travel Market is the perfect place for Emirates to showcase the range of products and services we offer. The Emirates Group offers a very wide range of products and services in addition to our excellent airline and ATM is a great opportunity for us to highlight the breadth of our offering to the market.

For the first time in the Middle East, Emirates will take visitors around the world in 30 minutes, thanks to its spectacular stand, the three-storey Emirates Globe, which this year revolves. The Emirates Globe was so successful at the 2007 event that it is returning to this year's event, which runs from May 6-9, in an even more spectacular form.

JICA VP visiting Bangladesh

Masafumi Kuroki, Vice President of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with one JICA official arrived Dhaka on May 10.

He has been visiting Bangladesh from May 10 to 14, 2008. The purpose of his visit is to exchange information on JICA-JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation) merging process and also to observe the impact and developmental effects of JICA Projects in Bangladesh.

In this respect, Masafumi Kuroki would have a courtesy call on Adviser for Ministry of Finance and Planning Dr AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam. He is also scheduled to hold some discussions on JICA programmes and projects with the concerned ministry/department. He is also scheduled to visit some JICA assisted projects.

Pavel meets America-Bangladesh Press Club office bearers in NY

Fakir Selim, New York

While meeting with the representatives of America Bangladesh Press Club at a restaurant in Jacksionheights, New York on Thursday (May 8), renowned Bangladeshi photojournalist Pavel Rahman called for providing more professional training to the photojournalists of Bangladesh working for different media.

Chaired by Press Club senior vice president Kazi Shamsul Hoque, the meeting was addressed, among others, by secretary Darpan Kabir, executive member Fazlur Rahman, Nazmul Ahsan, Lavlu Ansar, Akbar Haider Kiron and Behar Siddiqui.

Pavel Rahman said the photojournalists do the most risky jobs for newspapers, but unfortunately they are kept out of all benefits.

Citing few examples of his professional experiences, including the incident of August 21 grenade attack, Pavel said many photojournalists like him repeatedly escaped death.

He also requested the Bangladeshi newspapers authorities to provide most modern equipments like cameras, lenses to photojournalists and let them do better in their profession.

Pavel Rahman has come to the United States last month to receive few awards for his works. On April 18 he received the Picture of the Year Award from Washington which was given by the National Geography and some other media including The Washington Post and New York Times.

On May 17, he will receive Award of Excellence from Atlanta Press Club and on June 12 he will receive Associated Press Managing Editor's Prize. All these awards were given to him for one of his photos on Chittagong Hill Slide in which at least 250 people died.

Pavel Rahman began his profession as a photographer after liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 through the newspaper `Ekota'. Later he worked for Sachitra Sandhani, Kishore Bangla, Janapad, Sangbad, New Nation, Banglabazar Patrika, Janakantha and Associated Press.

He received many national and international awards including awards from japan, Brazil, India and Singapore. Pavel Rahma meet America Bangladesh.

ACME introduces DOLONIL SR

The ACME Laboratories Ltd has recently launched sustained release formulation of Tramadol HCL as DOLONIL SR tablet 100 mg.

DOLONIL SR tablet is the first manufactured sustained release formulation of Tramadol HCI in Bangladesh. It is a potential pain killer and is indicated in post-operative pain, traumas and fractures, musculoskeletal pain, neurogenic pain, cancer pain etc.

DOLONIL is a centrally acting synthetic opioid analgesic with fewer side effects. It is as effective as pethidine with reduced respiratory depression, sedation and constipation. DOLONIL SR tablet minimises the dosing frequency as it requires to be taken twice daily whether immediate release formulation of Tramadol HCI requires 4-6 times daily for complete therapeutic action. It is currently available in SR tablet, capsule and injection form. Each box of DOLONIL SR tablet contains 16 tablets (2 x 8's) in blister strips and price is Tk 14 per tablet.