The New Nation - Internet Edition

Ship with Indian rice arrives at Ctg Port

BSS, Dhaka

A ship carrying about 2,237 tonnes of rice from India arrived at Chittagong Port yesterday, a press release of the Indian High Commission here said today.

The consignment was part of 40,000 tonnes of rice, 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 10,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder, announced by the Indian government in July last year for the relief and rehabilitation of Bangladeshi people affected by floods and other natural disaster. With the arrival of this ship, India has so far supplied to Bangladesh a total of 18,288 tonnes of rice and 1,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder under this assistance, the release added.

Govt to turn BPC into Nat'l Tourism Organisation

BUSINESS REPORT

The government is going to turn Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) into a regulatory, promotional and facilitating body soon with a view to making it an up-to-date, dynamic and effective organisation.

Chairman of BPC Shafique Alam Mehedi yesterday said while speaking at a press briefing at Hotel Abakash in the city.

'The process to turn the BPC into the National Tourist Organisation is now going on, and hopefully, tourists will find a radical change in its operations shortly,' he said.

Shafique Alam Mehedi said keeping pace with the government's privatisation policy, 15 commercial institutions (hotels and motels) of the BPC have already been handed over to the private companies to develop and expand the tourist industry of the country.

Referring to Cox's Bazar as the 'unbroken beach,' the BPC chairman said Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation takes part in the ongoing road show and carries out publicity campaign to bring it to the top of the list of Seven Wonders of the World.

He said that the government also helped the BPC regarding the matter.

Shafique Alam Mehedi sought everybody's participation in the voting process and cooperation of media to create awareness among masses about the importance of Cox's Bazar.

The BPC would organise a photo exhibition on July 4-5 at the Shilpakala Academy, he said and added that participants of the photo show would be given away certificates.

He said that the BPC is contemplating introduction of Hotel Management and Tourism Course.

Responding to a question, he said the BPC would use its own fund to build new infrastructures.

The Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation started its journey in 1972 under an order of the then President.

Unilever Bangladesh awards staff for dedicated service

BUSINESS REPORT

Unilever Bangladesh Limited (UBL) organised the award giving ceremony for the 'Good and Long Service Award" at the Kalurghat Factory premises on Wednesday.

Chairman and Managing Director of UBL, Rakesh Mohan, was the chief guest at the event and handed over crests to the recipients.

The event was presided over by General Factory Manager, Rajib Barua. Human Resources Director, BP Biddappa and Supply Chain Director, Imran Momin were present as special guests. Personal Services Manager Muhammad Shahabuddin, President of the Employees Union AM Shahidul Alam and General Secretary Selim Enayet spoke at the event.

Factory Personnel Manager Muhammad Sanaullah, Soap Finishing Manager Ziaul Abedin, Senior Buying and Export Manager Muslim Uddin, Factory Commercial Manager Debdulal Karmakar, TPM Manager Muhammad Al-Kashem, Personal Products Manager Atikur Reza, Logistic Manager Tanvir Faruk and many others also attended the ceremony.

Rakesh Mohan congratulated the recipients and expressed his gratitude for their hard work and loyalty towards the company.

He said that the determination demonstrated by these individuals will help encourage all employees of the company.

Among the recipients, Muhammad Rafiqul Islam and General Factory Manager Rajib Barua shared their experiences about working at Unilever.

UBL has been operating in Bangladesh since 1965 and is the largest consumer goods producer in the country. Each year, the company recognises employees who have served the company for a long time. This year four employees have been awarded with 'Good and Long Service Award' for 25 years with the company and 12 employees with the 'Good Service Award' for 12 years of service with UBL.

UBL, apart from producing international standard brands, also carries out numerous CSR activities. The company has made a significant impact in the community with projects like Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital, Pepsodent Dentibus, Fair and Lovely Foundation, sponsorship of Shathi Samaj Kalyan Samiti School, sponsoring Chittagong Ma Shishu O General Hospital, Wheel Shada Moner Manush, Closeup I and Surf Excel Protibhaar Lorai.

Warid, Citycell ink deal to share infrastructures

BUSINESS REPORT

Following the directive of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Warid Telecom International Ltd and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell) signed a pioneer agreement to share their infrastructures on Wednesday.

Warid and Citycell high officials attended the signing ceremony held at the Corporate Head Office of Warid Telecom at Banani in Dhaka.

This signing was in continuation of a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between these two operators in presence of BTRC Chairman.

Under the deal, potentially 350 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) including towers, poles, transmitter equipment, transmission bandwidth and power could be shared by both the companies. This move will facilitate substantial cost-savings to both operators and bring environmental and economic benefits to the people of Bangladesh.

In this same ceremony, Warid Telecom also signed another agreement to purchase the HDPE DUCT for fibre optic from Citycell to enhance the capacity of current and future expansion of Warid network.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Citycell Michael Seymour and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Warid Telecom Amyn Merchant formally signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies

Giving his reaction on this occasion, Michael Seymour said, "The infrastructure sharing agreements with Warid are milestones for the Bangladesh telecom industry, allowing us to provide better coverage for our customers in an environment-friendly manner. It is a great outcome for all parties."

Commenting on the tie-up with Citycell, Amyn Merchant said, "This is a landmark agreement in the history of Bangladesh's telecom sector. By collaborating with Citycell, we can cost-effectively serve our customers with wider coverage and greater capacity. It is a win-win deal for both the parties."

StanChart holds workshop on Liquidity Management

BUSINESS REPORT

Standard Chartered Bank has recently organised a day long workshop on 'Liquidity Management: Bangladesh Perspective' at a hotel in the city.

The workshop covered various contemporary liquidity management topics comprising Bangladesh as well as global perspective. The discussion also covered the overview on Straight2Bank, the electronic platform and the recently launched collection platform, Regional Cash Management Solution (RCMS).

An Anti Money Laundering awareness session was also held at the programme. Participants from 60 local and multinational corporate bodies attended the workshop, which was inaugurated by Ahmed A Shah, Managing Director, Origination and Client Coverage, Standard Chartered Bank.

The sessions of the seminar were presented by Sohrab Saeed, Director, Jishan Shamsad, Director, Md Shoeb Ali, Director, SM Ajoy Alam, Associate, Nabil N Rahman, Director, Chowdhury MAQ Sarwar, Head of Legal and Compliance, Standard Chartered Bank and Md Masud Rana, Assistant Director, Anti Money Laundering Department, Bangladesh Bank. The vote of thanks was delivered by Mirza Aminur Rahman, Director and Head of Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bank. At the end of the workshop, certificates and mementos were presented to the participants by Chowdhury MAQ Sarwar and Mirza Aminur Rahman.

Prime Bank conducts 33rd foundation training course

Prime Bank Training and Development Centre concluded a five-week long (May 4 to June 5, 2008) Foundation Training Course for the Management Trainees of the bank on June 5 last.

Thirty-three Management Trainees working in different branches and Head Office took part in the training course encompassing banking operations (general banking), foreign trade and credit management.

The closing ceremony was held at HR Training and Development Centre. Nasiruddin Ahmed, Additional Managing Director of the bank was the chief guest at the ceremony.

In his speech, Ahmed advised the participants to apply their knowledge acquired from the training to professional life and develop themselves continuously to cope with the future challenges.

Finally, he awarded the participants with certificates being the chief guest of the ceremony. Wg Cdr (Retd) Md Tabarak Hossain Bhuiyan, Executive Vice President and Head of HR Division and Md Maruful Islam, Vice President and Manager- development HR were present in the closing ceremony of the Foundation Training Course.

Raihan Shamsi new President of Auditors' Institute

The Institute of Internal Auditors of Bangladesh (IAB) elected its new Board of Governors with Raihan Shamsi as the President.

The 10-member Board for 2008-09 was announced at a members' meeting of the institute in Dhaka.

The other members of the Board are Vice Presidents: K Atique-e-Rabbani of KA Rabbani & Co, and Chowdhury MAQ Sarwar of Standard Chartered Bank; Secretary General: Gopal Chandra Ghosh of Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd; Treasurer: Shahjahan Majumder of Apollo Hospitals Dhaka; and Members: Sarwar Azam Khan of GlaxoSmith Kline (Bd) Ltd, Abul Khair Chowdhury of Hoda Vasi Chowdhury & Co, Ms Parveen Mahmud of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Ms Suraiya Zannath Khan of The World Bank, and Farhad F Ahmed of Grameenphone Ltd.

New president Raihan Shamsi, Director Financial Management of Grameenphone, thanked the members and shared future plans for the institute.

A seminar on 'IT Audit for Internal Auditors' was also held where the importance of IT knowledge for auditors was discussed in relevance to Bangladesh.

The IIAB is an affiliate of the US-based IIA Inc, a global organisation having more than 150,000 professional members in 165 countries around the world dedicated to contribute to the development of internal audit practice toward good, corporate governance.

RFL holds distributors' conference

RFL holds its 'Annual Distributors Conference - 2008' at BDR Darbar Hall in Dhaka recently.

Over 3,000 distributors and sales representatives were present on the occasion. Chief Executive of the PRAN-RFL Group Major General (Retd) Amjad Khan Chowdhury in his welcome speech expressed his gratitude to the dealers for the success of the company. He advised the sales officers to make a wider distribution channel to ensure their product availability throughout the country. Executive Director (RFL) RN Paul focused on the company's recent activities, future plans and challenges through a multimedia presentation. He called upon all for achieving more success in 2008 with hard work and put forward some guidelines on that. Among others, ED (Marketing) Kamruzzaman Kamal, GM (Sales-Cast Iron and PVC) HM Jahangir Alam Rana, GM (Sales-Plastic) Toukirul Islam, GM (Operation-Cast Iron) Mizanur Rahman, GM (Operation-PVC) Prodip Kumar Podder, Brand Manager Chowdhury Fazle Akbar, Shah Fazle Rabbi and Shaminur Rahaman and other high officials were present on the occasion.

Chevron holds blood donation drive in city

Chevron Bangladesh organised a blood donation drive on June 12 to commemorate World Blood Donor Day. Held at the premises of Radius Centre in Bay's Galleria, Gulshan Avenue, the programme was collaboration between Chevron Dhaka Medical Team and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

Forty-two Chevron employees volunteered to donate their blood to mark the occasion. A similar event was held in March this year, where 125 Chevron employees from the Dhaka office and Bibiyana gas plant had come forward.

AG Automobiles gets 'Golden Shovel' Award of FORD

A high level marketing and management team of Ford Motor Company, USA, visited Bangladesh to formally hand over the prestigious 'Golden Shovel' award to AG Automobiles Ltd (a concern of century old Anwar Group) for the steps AG Auto has undertaken to reposition Ford brand in Bangladesh.

The Ford team was in Dhaka from June 10 to 12 and observed the overall automobile industry position, visited AG Automobiles state-of-the-art showroom and workshop at Uttara and discussed marketing strategy and brand planning of AG Automobiles. Ford has recently accredited afresh the dealership rights to AG Automobiles Ltd to bring due success to the globally renowned company.

MV Al Bahia named, delivered to USAC

UASC BOD Member, UAE Jasem Rashed Al-Shamsi did the honour of naming the third vessel MV 'Al Bahia' bearing the UAE national flag on April 14 last at HHI Ulsan, South Korea in the presence of distinguished guests and HHI senior officials.

UASC BOD Member, UAE SaiemAli Al-Zaabi and other key officials were present on the occasion.

MV 'Al Bahia' delivered to UASC on April 14 last is a high-speed vessel with fuel-efficient engine and capacity up to 6,919 TEUS, will definitely benefit UASC customers through an optimisation of services.

'AI Bahia' means pretty, glowing and bright. 'AI Bahia' is a coastal district in the United Arab Emirates which has a beautiful and superb beach.

UASC had contracted to build eight new generation containerships with a South Korean company specialising in shipbuilding--Hyundai Heavy Industries Company Limited, Ulsan in March 2005 at a total cost of US$850 million. MV 'AI Bahia' will join MV 'Al Safat' and MV 'Hatta' the first two of the eight vessels delivered to the UASC deployed in the Asia-Europe Container Service, and these ships form part of UASC's strategic expansion plans.

Al-Shamsi, speaking on the occasion, thanked HHI, Schiffko and the UASC team for their hard work and timely delivery of MV Al Bahia.

He also appreciated HHI management's warm hospitality and thanked the guests for attending the celebrations. Finally, he wished the very best for UASC and HHI.

Southeast University holds seminar on National Budget

A seminar on 'Proposed National Budget for the fiscal year 2008-2009' was held in the seminar hall of Southeast University recently.

Prof Dr M Shamsher Ali, Vice-Chancellor of SEU presided over the seminar. Prof Dr Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) graced the occasion as the chief guest. Pro-Vice Chancellor of SEU, Prof Abu Ahmed was present as special guest. The Dean of School of Business Studies Prof Dr Syed Masud Husain was the guest of honor. Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed, Chairman, Department of Business Administration, Assistant Professor of SBS Salahuddin and Dr Zillur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.

A vivid presentation on the budget was made by two BBA students Shaker Ahmed and Hafizur Rahman.

Prof Dr Mustafizur Rahman was impressed by the students' presentation on budget. He welcomed such initiative by Southeast University.

In his speech, Prof Mustafizur Rahman said that as students would lead the country in future they need to have in-depth knowledge on every aspect of economy. He also pointed out positive sides and limitations of the budget in details.

Prof Dr M Shamsher Ali said that there is no alternative to enhancement of knowledge and technological education for the development of Bangladesh. He mentioned several examples of different developing countries that are now ahead of Bangladesh because of their technological advancement.

Prof Abu Ahmed underscored the need for restoring the confidence in the private sector to accelerate the wheels of the economy.

Prof Dr Syed Masud Husain insisted on post-budget accountability and opined that budget implementation was the most important aspect.

He also said that the students of School of Business Studies in SEU would always put forward their independent views on proposed national budget in future, as they did in the past.

Dhaka Bank hosts mezban in Ctg

In honor of clients, well-wishers, patrons of Chittagong Region, Dhaka Bank organised a clients' get together and traditional mezban on June 12 last at Hotel Agrabad in Chittagong.

Altaf Hossain Sarker, chairman, Abdul Hai Sarker, founder chairman, ATM Hayatuzzaman Khan, former chairman, Mohammed Hanif, vice chairman, Shahed Noman, managing director, Dhaka Bank Limited were present on the occasion.

Showkat Ali Chowdhury, renowned ship breaker, Amzadul Ferdous Chowdhury, exporter, CIP and director of NCCBL, Habibullah Khan, CIP and former chairman of CSE, Md Nasiruddin, President of CSE, Sufi Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of PHP Group, Liakat Ali Chowdhury, renowned ship breaker, Md Lokman Hakim, renowned ship breaker, AR Lashker, renowned ship breaker, Engr MA Rashid, renowned ship builder, Nabab Sirajuddowla, Director of Kabir Steel, Md Mahfuzul Hoque Kamal, MD of Smile Food Ltd were present. The program was followed by cultural programme.