The New Nation - Internet Edition

EC Ambassador in Dhaka to visit WMSL today

Head of the Delegation of European Commission (EC) Dr. Stefan Frowein is likely to visit the Western Marine Shipyard Limited (WMSL) today. The European Commission envoy will visit the shipyard to oversee the progress of Danish order for three ocean-going vessels and the other facilities. Western Marine Shipyard is one of the leading ship building companies in the country that has stack in the international ship building market. The Western Marine has already received orders for building 18 ocean-going ships. Five of the 18 vessels for a Danish company, twelve for a Dutch company and the rest for a Singaporean company. Stefan Frowein is expected to sit together with the senior officials of Western Marine Shipyard Limited. First Secretary to the EC Charles Whitely, trade advisor to the EC A Razi Hai, Project Officer Jeni Christensen, advisor in the political and trade section Janatan Henriksson, Chairman of Chittagong port authority commodore M Farooque, President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCC&I) Saifuzzaman Chowdhury are likely to accompany him.

Bangladesh seeks $2b loan from IDB for fuel imports

BUSINESS REPORT

The government has requested the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to double its annual loan to US$2 billion for the next year in the wake of rising costs for import of fuel oils, sources at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said.

"Bangladesh has requested the IDB to increase the loan as we have become unable to cope with the spiraling oil prices in the international markets," said a high official of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, expressing anonymity.

The official said the country has received US$1billion loan from the IDB each year since 1997 under an agreement with state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), the state-run sole importer and distributor of oil.

He said Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, now attending the IDB's annual meeting in Jeddah, has requested for providing the increased amount of loan. The official also said that the government was requested to approve Tk 80 billion as subsidy for the BPC to meet fast growing oil import costs.

"It becomes almost impossible to bear the heavy burden of oil cost that is rising every day," he said.

The government raised diesel prices by about 21 per cent in April 2007 when crude oil was trading at US$67, he said. Oil is now trading at about double that price.

Bangladesh imports 3.8 million tonnes of fuel every year, of which almost 80 per cent is diesel, officials said.

In the current 2007-2008 fiscal year to June, the country will need US$4.5 billion for oil purchases and repayments of loans bills. In the past fiscal year BPC spent US$3.2 billion on oil imports.

Pvt commercial banks to raise deposit interest rates

BUSINESS REPORT

Country's private commercial banks will raise interest rates by up to three percentage points for deposits to narrow the gap with lending rates which have also come down, a senior bank official said yesterday.

Private banks have already agreed to cut lending rates by up to three percentage points following orders from the central bank, concerned about the competitiveness of Bangladeshi goods.

"The new rates will come into effect from tomorrow (Sunday)," said a senior official of the Bankers Association of Bangladesh (BAB).

Bangladesh Bank had earlier asked all private banks to narrow the gap between lending and deposit rates, officials said. "We took the measures after considering demands from the business group," the official, who is also the managing director of a leading private bank, told The New Naion.

About half of private commercial banks have increased their interest rates on deposits to reduce the spread between lending and deposit rates and to encourage depositors to keep their money with banks, he said.

"All the private commercial banks are now willing to bridge the gap at around 5 per cent from the existing 6.06 per cent by June this year, a deadline set by the central bank," the BAB official said.

Commercial banks now offer interest rates of between 12 per cent and nearly 13 per cent on fixed deposits and saving accounts, officials said.

The private commercial banks will charge up to 14 per cent for term loans and working capital, down from 16 to 17 per cent now.

The central bank's official bank rate is at 5 per cent. In money market operations, it currently provides funds to banks at 8.50 per cent and drains surplus funds at 6.50 per cent.

The average lending rate of banks was 12.77 per cent in 2007 and 12.60 per cent in 2006, while the average deposit rate was 6.85 per cent and 6.99 percent, respectively.

Despite difficult business conditions as a result of political uncertainty, the country's private commercial banks earned nearly 40 per cent more operating profit in 2007 than the previous year, officials said.

IBBL introduces Thomson Reuters dealing system

BUSINESS REPORT

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited introduced recently Thomson Reuters Dealing System in the dealing room of the bank.

On the occasion of the inauguration a function was held at the Head Office of Islami Bank Tower in the city.

It was organized by International Banking Wing of the Bank. Principal Moulana Zainul Abedin, Vice Chairman, Board of Directors of the ank introduced the system.

M. Fariduddin Ahmad, Managing Director of the bank was present in the function.

The function was also attended, among others, by Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Investment Wing, Md Habibur Rahman, Deputy Managing Director and Head of International Banking Wing and Md. Abdul Matin, Bangladesh Liaison Officer of Thomson Reuters. Moulana Zainul Adedin offered Dua for contintinuous progress of the bank and sought assistance from Allah the Almighty to serve the nation through the services of the bank.

AKTEL introduces instant news service

BUSINESS REPORT

AKTEL, one of the largest telecom operators of the country has recently launched its instant news service. Under this service, AKTEL customers can get the latest news of home and abroad easily from any corner of Bangladesh.

For latest news, customers will have to type news and send it to 2324 and in case of breaking news update (subscription based) customers will have to type b and send to the same No. 2324.

Once s/he is subscribed, s/he will be updated with the breaking news as when it occurs. Apart from this, there are two more subscription based news updates naming Daily Morning News and Daily Political News. Most interestingly, customers can also listen to the news updates by just calling 2324. So, wherever and whenever the news happens- be it national, international, political or sports update is at fingertips with AKTE Instant News Service.

AKTEL Instant News Service is powered by bdnews24.com. For more information, customers can call AKTEL Helpline 123 or Visit www.bdnews24.com .

South Korean institution offers low cost BBA, MBA programmes

Business Report

Solbridge International School of South Korea in association with Pathmark Associates Limited in going to open provincial office in Bangladesh which will provide the English Language Based education and scholarships for the students of Bangladesh in BBA and MBA at minimum cost.

The purpose of the education programme is to improve the quality of Bangladeshi students and facilitate poor and meritorious students scholarship.

The school provides comparatively lower cost for study, accepts Bangladesh's education standard and results, offers full free tuition fees for poor students, ensures internship and jobs, facilitates part time jobs for the students and also gives opportunity to transfer credit.

Vice Chancellor of Solbridge International School Dr John Endicott said the business school would pave the way for having international jobs and business for the students of Bangladesh.

He said through using the world-class technology of the Korea that the school would provide for the students of Bangladesh, would help to represent themselves as potential to the competitive world.

The Vice Chancellor of the university of Dhaka Dr Prof SMA Faiz as chief guest inaugurated the seminar of the Solbridge International School.

Vice Chancellor of North South University Hafiz GA Siddiqi, Pro Vice chancellor of Brac University Salehuddin Ahmed and a number of enthusiastic students attended the seminar. Prof Dr Tridiv Biswas presented keynote of the seminar.

On the day educationist and international consultant Niru Biswas conducted a scholarship test on the students.

Solbridge International School requested the interested students to contact at the office of Pathmark 6/a/1,Segunbagicha.

Emirates Airlines 100pc e-ticket enabled

Emirates continues to lead the way in e-ticketing, decently concluding its 100th fireflies e-ticketing agreement. This means the airline's e-ticketing product is now even more widely available, enabling more travellers to enjoy the benefits of e-tickets when flying with Emirates.

The Dubai-based airline has been 100% e-ticket enabled across all of its online destinations since the end of April, weeks ahead of IATA's 1st June deadline. In addition, Emirates e-tickets are being issued by 10 global distribution systems (CDS) and travel agent systems that span across 70 BSP (IATA billing settlement plan) global markets.

This achievement is no mean feat given the span of Emirates' route network, and the complexity of its global operations which includes markets that have poor technology infrastructure.

Keith Longstaff, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide said: "We are pleased to have fully achieved e-ticketing across our online operations ahead of lATA's deadline, and to have concluded this process with over 100 of our interline partners. Emirates has a dedicated team focussed on rolling it out across all of our global network. It has been a huge undertaking not only because our network was continually expanding, but also because of the complexity of our operations.

"Emirates has been 100 per cent behind lATA's e-ticketing initiative since its inception and we are particularly proud that Emirates' e-ticketing products have been developed in-house, including complex products like e-ticketing for code-share flights and infants."

He added: "Electronic ticketing benefits both the customer and the airline by providing greater convenience, reduced processing time, simplified operations and faster check-in. It is also paperless, and thus greener. Customer response has been extremely positive, and today e-tickets have become accepted as the norm."

Since the inception of e-ticketing in 2004, Emirates has been the leader in the region on developing and implementing e-ticket products. The airline currently operates to 99 cities on six continents, and has announced plans to start services to Cuangzhou (China), Durban (South Africa), Los Angeles and San Francisco this year.

City Bank holds workshop on 'Basel II'

BUSINESS REPORT

A day long workshop on 'Basel II' was organised by The City Bank Limited on May 24 at Baton Rouge, Pink City, Gulshan in the city.

The sessions of the workshop was conducted by KM Abdul Wadood, DGM and Member Secretary of Basel II Implementation Cell of Bangladesh Bank and by Muzaffar Ahmed, President and CEO of CRISL.

The workshop was inaugurated by K Mahmood Sattar, Managing Director and CEO of the bank and chaired by Raihan-UI-Ameen, DMD (Operations) and DS Faisal Hyder, SEVP and CFO of the bank. DH Choudhury, DMD (Legal and Compliance) also spoke in this session.

Ehsan Khasru, SEVP and Head of CRM was present in the workshop as facilitator.

It is mentionable that the bank has progressed a great deal in capacity building and setting up of parameters in the implementation of Basel II as per Bangladesh Bank roadmap.

UN CBD fails to protect forests from genetically engineered trees

Bonn, Germany-Under heavy pressure from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, New Zealand and Australia, the Convention on Biological Diversity's Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP-9) failed to pass a moratorium on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment despite support for a global ban endorsed by hundreds of organizations around the world, and the unified efforts to stop GE trees carried out by NGOs, Indigenous Peoples' Organizations, scientists and foresters present at the COP.

The negotiations around the issue of GE trees were heated, with the entire African Group and numerous other Parties staunchly supporting a suspension of the planting of GE trees until risk assessments show that they will have no negative impacts on forests or forest dependent peoples. Among those blocking this effort were the countries of Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand, all of which are currently conducting field trials of GE trees. One member of the Brazilian delegation admitted that their delegation included a representative from ArborGen, the world's leading GE trees research and development company, which projects millions in profits from GE tree plantations that they plan to develop in Brazil. [1]

"Most of the COP resolutions will increase hunger, especially in Southern countries," explained Ana Filippini of World Rainforest Movement and the STOP GE Trees Campaign. [2] "Accepting genetically engineered trees is only one more in the chain of wrong policies that will worsen the already serious hunger situation. Millions of hectares of land are being turned over to the production of agrofuels. With the new emphasis on cellulose-based agrofuels, even more land will be taken for even larger plantations of trees-which will likely someday be GE trees, since the COP would not pass a moratorium on them. Business has been pushing these unsustainable agrofuels all through this COP, which are only for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of human hunger and environmental destruction," she concluded.

"Yesterday was a bleak day indeed," added Anne Petermann, of Global Forest Coalition, Global Justice Ecology Project, and Co-Coordinator of the STOP GE Trees Campaign. "The fact that the COP failed to take strong collective action against GE trees means that more forests will be destroyed, more biodiversity devastated and more peoples displaced. Global warming will be worsened and livelihoods lost. As has historically been the case, the work to protect ecosystems will ultimately and unjustly fall upon the communities and peoples that live there.

"Under the leadership of CBD Executive Secretary Ahmed Djoghlaf, the CBD has chosen to actively embrace business and a market-based approach to biodiversity conservation, which has had the inevitable effect of watering down protection of biodiversity where it runs counter to the interests of business. It is having the effect of seriously jeopardizing the legitimacy of this body," she concluded.

Shaikh Mesba Uddin new director of Standard Bank

Shaikh Mesba Uddin, a prominent businessman, celebrated social worker and philanthropist has been unanimously elected as member of the Board of Directors of Standard Bank Ltd by the Board in its 125th meeting.

Shaikh Mesba Uddin hails from a noble Muslim family of Madaripur district. After completion of his education he entered the export-import trading business under the sole proprietorship of M/s MIZ Enterprise. By dint of creative steps sincerity and hard work, he became a successful business personality of the country.

He is actively associated with many socio-cultural organizations and traveled many countries of the world.

Shaikh Mesba Uddin seeks blessings and co-operation of all concern for discharging his duties.

WEAB signs deal with IFC

The Women Entrepreneurs Association of' Bangladesh (WEAB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have signed an agreement, says a press release.

Under the deal, The WEAB members will get opportunity to enhance their business management capacity and operational skills, and to facilitate their access to finance.

The agreement was signed at IFC-SEDF office recently. WEAB President Nasreen Awal Mintoo and Deputy General Manager and head of SEDF Bangladesh Deepak P Adhikary signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

WEAB Senior Vice President Naaz Farhana Ahmed was also present on the occasion. Under this project an SME problem solutions cell will be established at WEAB Sylhet office.

Business-media ties vital for better reporting, better business

Journalists are facing problem in gathering information needed for a complete and objective report due to their poor access to information.

Newspaper reports must have clarity and objectivity, with details of the issue for in-depth analysis. But reporters often fail to do this as it is very difficult for them to collect information from government offices or business houses.

This was observed by participants of a study circle on "Financing Needs of Enterprises" held at a local hotel today.

The participants said media houses should develop an information bank that will store information of all sectors. This can help a reporter to write better reports.

Besides, businessmen and enterprises should also provide necessary information to the reporters to avoid wrong, incomplete and vague reporting.

They observed that reports often fail to clarify the technical issues and terms related to business and economy and provide incomplete picture of the subject.

They suggested that more interactions with the businesspeople will help the reporters and gatekeepers of the print and electronic media to select issues worth reporting, to understand the business issues properly and report accurately.

Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) organised the programme at La Vinci Hotel in the city in collaboration with International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) with support from the International Republican Institute (IRI).

This was the first of a series of study circles to be held in Dhaka and Chittagong with the objective of improving the quality, accuracy and usefulness of information on business, economics and public policy in newspapers.

A number of businessmen and journalists from both print and electronic media participated in the study circle and called for more interactions between them to create an environment for better business in the country.

The participants said the initiative will help establish a freestanding business advocacy organisation and an independent forum for business leaders to identify their common problems and present solutions to policymakers.

IBFB President Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury in his speech highlighted the issues of high interest rate of banks and other financial institutions, corporate tax rate, traditional banking facilities and rigidity of the central bank which need better press coverage.

He said the study circles would enable businesspeople and journalists to take coordinated actions in establishing better business climate in the country.

Inam Ahmed, news editor, The Daily Star, moderated the session attended by members of IBFB and senior business page gatekeepers and reporters of electronic and print media.

Hasibur Rahman, executive director, MRDI, in his welcome speech emphasized the need for holding study circles of this type with the reporters of local and community level newspapers, which would boost local business also.