By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 18 (UNB) – The government in a bid to generate employment and provide infrastructural support to private entrepreneurs in small and cottage industry sector has planned to set up an industrial town in Mirsarai upazila of Chittagong district.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has recently approved the project titled `Mirsharai Shilpanagari, Chittagong,’ sources at the Industries Ministry said.
“The project site has already been selected…it’s just close to Mirsarai railway station,” Industries Minister Dilip Barua said.
The project will be implemented on 25 acres of land by 2012 at a cost of Tk 22.96 crore, he informed.
According to the project profile, the industrial town will have a total of 186 industrial plots where 125 small and medium industries would be set up.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua hoped that some 6,000 people would be directly employed once the project is implemented, apart from indirect involvement of many people.
Besides, the government has also decided to set up an industrial park - ‘BSIC Industrial Park’ - in Sirajganj with a view to reviving rural economy through industrialization.
The project, which will be implemented on 400 acres of land at Saidabad and Kalia Haripur in Sirajganj Sadar Upazia, has also got approval from the ECNEC, the Minister said.
The project is expected to be implemented by June 2014 at a cost of Tk 384 crore and it will have 801 industrial plots.
A total of 570 export-oriented, import-substitute and domestic mills and factories will be set up on the industrial park, officials said.
Some 100,000 people will get job opportunity if the project is implemented timely and it will help boost domestic and foreign investment.
END/UNB/
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Corruption, social discrimination major challenges to achieving MDGs; Joint efforts needed for ‘middle life-standard’ Bangladesh: Qazi Kholiquzzaman
By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 17 (UNB) – Small-scale corruption in each and every sphere of society and unabated social discrimination have virtually stalled the country’s desired progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), economist Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said on Friday.
“We’ve progressed much in different sectors but the expected progress of the country apparently got stuck due to social discrimination and corruption,” he said at a press conference at the National Press Club.
Qazi Kholiquzzaman, chairman of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), called upon all to work together for transforming Bangladesh into a ‘middle life-standard’ country instead of middle-income country by removing social discrimination and ensuring proper utilization of internal resources.
People’s Forum on MDGs-Bangladesh and UNMC jointly arranged the press conference to inform the people about the private-level recommendations and demands that will be placed at the Conference on MDGs to be held September 20-22 in New York.
People’s Forum on MDGs-Bangladesh co-convener Dr Nilufar Banu read out a written paper based on their recommendations for achieving MDGs and outlining the challenges.
Replying to a question, Qazi Kholiquzzaman said the government has the proper programmes and policies which are essential for achieving the MDGs. “But we don’t see proper implementation of government programmes and policies…we need to remind the government of this.”
He said the government should give more attention in agricultural sector and employment generation to come out from the acute poverty situation.
Emphasizing on education, the PKSF chairman said the prevailing discrimination in the education sector would have to be removed so that the people could be prepared for realizing their basic rights.
Earlier, Nilufar Banu placed a number of recommendations on achieving the MDGs that include mobilizing resources for agriculture sector including adequate financial support and ensuring fair wages of agricultural labours; establishing education as constitutional right; reducing school dropout rate of girls, proper measures to improve maternal health, and joint collaboration of government and other development partners to ensure environment sustainability.
Member of People’s Forum on MDGs-Bangladesh Abdul Awal also addressed the press conference.
END/UNB/
Dhaka, Sept 17 (UNB) – Small-scale corruption in each and every sphere of society and unabated social discrimination have virtually stalled the country’s desired progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), economist Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said on Friday.
“We’ve progressed much in different sectors but the expected progress of the country apparently got stuck due to social discrimination and corruption,” he said at a press conference at the National Press Club.
Qazi Kholiquzzaman, chairman of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), called upon all to work together for transforming Bangladesh into a ‘middle life-standard’ country instead of middle-income country by removing social discrimination and ensuring proper utilization of internal resources.
People’s Forum on MDGs-Bangladesh and UNMC jointly arranged the press conference to inform the people about the private-level recommendations and demands that will be placed at the Conference on MDGs to be held September 20-22 in New York.
People’s Forum on MDGs-Bangladesh co-convener Dr Nilufar Banu read out a written paper based on their recommendations for achieving MDGs and outlining the challenges.
Replying to a question, Qazi Kholiquzzaman said the government has the proper programmes and policies which are essential for achieving the MDGs. “But we don’t see proper implementation of government programmes and policies…we need to remind the government of this.”
He said the government should give more attention in agricultural sector and employment generation to come out from the acute poverty situation.
Emphasizing on education, the PKSF chairman said the prevailing discrimination in the education sector would have to be removed so that the people could be prepared for realizing their basic rights.
Earlier, Nilufar Banu placed a number of recommendations on achieving the MDGs that include mobilizing resources for agriculture sector including adequate financial support and ensuring fair wages of agricultural labours; establishing education as constitutional right; reducing school dropout rate of girls, proper measures to improve maternal health, and joint collaboration of government and other development partners to ensure environment sustainability.
Member of People’s Forum on MDGs-Bangladesh Abdul Awal also addressed the press conference.
END/UNB/
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Minister Barua plays down fears of fertilizer crisis; Approval of new Industrial Policy big achievement for his ministry; he says
By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 16 (UNB) – Farmers will not face any fertilizer crisis in the coming peak season, despite some fertilizer producing units remaining inoperative due to persisting gas crisis, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said on Thursday.
“We’ve taken precautionary measures to avert any fertilizer crisis, as the fertilizer producing units remained inoperative due to gas crisis,” Barua told journalists at a press conference at the conference room of the Industries Ministry today.
The press conference was arranged to inform countrymen about the development activities of the ministry over the last 20 months.
Minister Barua firmly said that there would be no shortage of Urea, a fertilizer, in the coming Boro season, and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company (KAFCO), a multinational fertilizer producing company, has for the first time agreed to sell all its fertilizer to Bangladesh in the peak season.
The government, however, set a demand target of fertilizer at 28.31 lakh metric tons for the current year, showing a sharp drop in targeted demand compared to the previous year’s target, when it was 29.51 lakh metric tons.
Asked about the causes behind the reduced demand target, Minister Barua said: “The use of Urea fertilizer has decreased as the farmers have started using diammonium phosphates (DAP) fertilizer widely…it’s being produced in two units in Chittagong, and we’ll import if necessary.”
He claimed that the farmers haven’t faced any fertilizer crisis during the tenure of the present government, and nobody has had to sacrifice their lives for fertilizer, as happened before.
“We will build sufficient stock of fertilizers to address the demand….currently we have a stock of 4 lakh metric tons of fertilizer, in addition there are stocks of fertilizer at the dealer-level,” he said.
On the other hand, Qatar has agreed to supply 400,000 metric tons of urea including an additional 100,000 metric tons to Bangladesh in the current fiscal, under a deal agreed between the two governments.
Qatar Fertilizer Company Limited (QFCL) will supply the fertilizer, as stipulated by the agreement, which was signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Qatar in October 2009, Barua said.
He said the government is also giving priority to importing fertilizers from alternative countries apart from the Middle East and China through ‘state-to-state’ deals.
Replying to a question, Barua said the government would set up three new fertilizer factories, having an annual production capacity of nearly 5.77 lakh metric tons of fertilizer. “Of the three would-be factories, Shahjalal Fertilizer Project might go into production during the tenure of the government.”
Emphasizing people’s participation, Minister Barua said the government would gradually offload the shares of profitable SoEs in the capital market.
He, however, neither disclosed any names of the SoEs which might go to the capital market, nor the timeframe of offloading shares.
Talking about the new industrial policy that got cabinet nod, he said: “It’s a big achievement for the ministry of industries… it’ll play a vital role in fulfilling the government target of 40 per cent contribution of industrial sector in the national income and increase employment generation by around 25 per cent by 2021.”
“We want a strong private sector to expedite economic development,” Barua added.
BCIC Chairman and acting Industries Secretary KH Masud Siddiqi and Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) Chairman Ranjit Kumar Biswas were also present at the press conference.
END/UNB/
Dhaka, Sept 16 (UNB) – Farmers will not face any fertilizer crisis in the coming peak season, despite some fertilizer producing units remaining inoperative due to persisting gas crisis, Industries Minister Dilip Barua said on Thursday.
“We’ve taken precautionary measures to avert any fertilizer crisis, as the fertilizer producing units remained inoperative due to gas crisis,” Barua told journalists at a press conference at the conference room of the Industries Ministry today.
The press conference was arranged to inform countrymen about the development activities of the ministry over the last 20 months.
Minister Barua firmly said that there would be no shortage of Urea, a fertilizer, in the coming Boro season, and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company (KAFCO), a multinational fertilizer producing company, has for the first time agreed to sell all its fertilizer to Bangladesh in the peak season.
The government, however, set a demand target of fertilizer at 28.31 lakh metric tons for the current year, showing a sharp drop in targeted demand compared to the previous year’s target, when it was 29.51 lakh metric tons.
Asked about the causes behind the reduced demand target, Minister Barua said: “The use of Urea fertilizer has decreased as the farmers have started using diammonium phosphates (DAP) fertilizer widely…it’s being produced in two units in Chittagong, and we’ll import if necessary.”
He claimed that the farmers haven’t faced any fertilizer crisis during the tenure of the present government, and nobody has had to sacrifice their lives for fertilizer, as happened before.
“We will build sufficient stock of fertilizers to address the demand….currently we have a stock of 4 lakh metric tons of fertilizer, in addition there are stocks of fertilizer at the dealer-level,” he said.
On the other hand, Qatar has agreed to supply 400,000 metric tons of urea including an additional 100,000 metric tons to Bangladesh in the current fiscal, under a deal agreed between the two governments.
Qatar Fertilizer Company Limited (QFCL) will supply the fertilizer, as stipulated by the agreement, which was signed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Qatar in October 2009, Barua said.
He said the government is also giving priority to importing fertilizers from alternative countries apart from the Middle East and China through ‘state-to-state’ deals.
Replying to a question, Barua said the government would set up three new fertilizer factories, having an annual production capacity of nearly 5.77 lakh metric tons of fertilizer. “Of the three would-be factories, Shahjalal Fertilizer Project might go into production during the tenure of the government.”
Emphasizing people’s participation, Minister Barua said the government would gradually offload the shares of profitable SoEs in the capital market.
He, however, neither disclosed any names of the SoEs which might go to the capital market, nor the timeframe of offloading shares.
Talking about the new industrial policy that got cabinet nod, he said: “It’s a big achievement for the ministry of industries… it’ll play a vital role in fulfilling the government target of 40 per cent contribution of industrial sector in the national income and increase employment generation by around 25 per cent by 2021.”
“We want a strong private sector to expedite economic development,” Barua added.
BCIC Chairman and acting Industries Secretary KH Masud Siddiqi and Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) Chairman Ranjit Kumar Biswas were also present at the press conference.
END/UNB/
Too many home-goers, too few transports
By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 7 (UNB) - Exodus of momentary residents and fortune-makers from the capital city has started today, just three days ahead of the biggest festival of the Muslim, changing the chaotic look of the city thoroughfares to some extent.
Most of the city's inter-district coach terminals, railway station and launch terminal were found overcrowded. Empty and the cargo-laden trucks were also seen carrying homebound passengers who could not procure train or bus tickets.
Over 60 lakh people out of nearly 1.5 crore people living in the capital are expected to go home ahead of the Eid. According to an unofficial estimate, around 20 lakh people, on an average, quit the city every day and the trend continues even in the intensified form till the Eid day.
The presence of officials and employees at different public offices and enterprises dropped significantly on Monday though today (Tuesday) is public holiday. A good number of public and private employees sought casual leaves against the working day before the Eid vacation.
Many public and private commercial banks here in the port city had to suffer from liquidity crisis for meeting the cash demands of the clients on Monday, officials said.
UNB roaming correspondent Rafiqul Islam said thousands of homebound people thronged launch, rail and bus terminals in the capital, and most of them found their attempt difficult to avail the transport.
Many along with family members were desperate for CNG-run auto-rickshaws or taxicabs in city streets. Those, who managed to find one, had to pay an exorbitant fare to reach destinations.
Meanwhile, people were seen standing in long queue at Kamalapur Railway Station to buy train tickets. But most tickets were sold in advance.
Field-level visit reveals that the bus operators are charging excess fare in short-distance routes like Dhaka-Kishoreganj, Dhaka-Comilla and Dhaka-Narsingdi.
However, the long-distance bus fare like Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Moulobibazar, Dhaka-Habiganj, Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka-Feni and Dhaka-Noakhali remained unchanged.
“We didn’t increase the fare …we’re charging usual fare like Tk 300 for Dhaka to Chittagong,” said Sohag Raihan of Shymoli Paribahan at Syedabad.
Sources said both public and private operators have doubled the number of transports of various modes to carry over seven million homebound passengers from the capital ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Bus operators said they have increased daily trips which will continue until Eid. Number of launches has also increased. Some 100 launches will operate on different river-routes to ferry passengers.
The railway authority has so far sold 70,000 advance rail tickets on different routes which will exceed 1 lakh before Eid, Dhaka Divisional Railway Manager M Habibur Rahman told UNB Correspondent AKM Moinuddin over phone on Tuesday.
“We’ve added extra coaches with the existing trains to carry passengers,” he said. Special, intercity, commuter, mail and local trains are running at full capacity from Kamalapur, Joydebpur, Dhaka Cantonment and Airport railway stations.
Nearly one million people are expected to leave the capital city for homes by launches from the Sadarghat Launch Terminal to enjoy Eid holiday from Thursday with their dear ones.
Capital's three major bus terminals -- Gabtoli, Sayedabad and Mohakhali - were also seen overcrowded on Tuesday.
People of wealthier section of the society are availing airways on Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Jessore and Sylhet routes from the capital to go home ahead of Eid.
Security measures by RAB, Police and APB (Armed Police Battalion) including plan-clothed personnel have been tightened in and around the bus and launch terminals and railway stations.
END/UNB/
Dhaka, Sept 7 (UNB) - Exodus of momentary residents and fortune-makers from the capital city has started today, just three days ahead of the biggest festival of the Muslim, changing the chaotic look of the city thoroughfares to some extent.
Most of the city's inter-district coach terminals, railway station and launch terminal were found overcrowded. Empty and the cargo-laden trucks were also seen carrying homebound passengers who could not procure train or bus tickets.
Over 60 lakh people out of nearly 1.5 crore people living in the capital are expected to go home ahead of the Eid. According to an unofficial estimate, around 20 lakh people, on an average, quit the city every day and the trend continues even in the intensified form till the Eid day.
The presence of officials and employees at different public offices and enterprises dropped significantly on Monday though today (Tuesday) is public holiday. A good number of public and private employees sought casual leaves against the working day before the Eid vacation.
Many public and private commercial banks here in the port city had to suffer from liquidity crisis for meeting the cash demands of the clients on Monday, officials said.
UNB roaming correspondent Rafiqul Islam said thousands of homebound people thronged launch, rail and bus terminals in the capital, and most of them found their attempt difficult to avail the transport.
Many along with family members were desperate for CNG-run auto-rickshaws or taxicabs in city streets. Those, who managed to find one, had to pay an exorbitant fare to reach destinations.
Meanwhile, people were seen standing in long queue at Kamalapur Railway Station to buy train tickets. But most tickets were sold in advance.
Field-level visit reveals that the bus operators are charging excess fare in short-distance routes like Dhaka-Kishoreganj, Dhaka-Comilla and Dhaka-Narsingdi.
However, the long-distance bus fare like Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Moulobibazar, Dhaka-Habiganj, Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka-Feni and Dhaka-Noakhali remained unchanged.
“We didn’t increase the fare …we’re charging usual fare like Tk 300 for Dhaka to Chittagong,” said Sohag Raihan of Shymoli Paribahan at Syedabad.
Sources said both public and private operators have doubled the number of transports of various modes to carry over seven million homebound passengers from the capital ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Bus operators said they have increased daily trips which will continue until Eid. Number of launches has also increased. Some 100 launches will operate on different river-routes to ferry passengers.
The railway authority has so far sold 70,000 advance rail tickets on different routes which will exceed 1 lakh before Eid, Dhaka Divisional Railway Manager M Habibur Rahman told UNB Correspondent AKM Moinuddin over phone on Tuesday.
“We’ve added extra coaches with the existing trains to carry passengers,” he said. Special, intercity, commuter, mail and local trains are running at full capacity from Kamalapur, Joydebpur, Dhaka Cantonment and Airport railway stations.
Nearly one million people are expected to leave the capital city for homes by launches from the Sadarghat Launch Terminal to enjoy Eid holiday from Thursday with their dear ones.
Capital's three major bus terminals -- Gabtoli, Sayedabad and Mohakhali - were also seen overcrowded on Tuesday.
People of wealthier section of the society are availing airways on Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Jessore and Sylhet routes from the capital to go home ahead of Eid.
Security measures by RAB, Police and APB (Armed Police Battalion) including plan-clothed personnel have been tightened in and around the bus and launch terminals and railway stations.
END/UNB/
MDG Progress Report 2009 released; malnutrition, resource shortfall major problems in achieving MDGs
By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 15 (UNB) – Bangladesh has made significant progress in certain areas towards achieving MDGs (millennium development goals) by 2015 that include reducing child mortality, primary schooling, and gender parity in primary and secondary level education.
Bangladesh, as the country most vulnerable to the global menace of climate change, needs to get urgent support pledged by the world leaders at the Copenhagen Climate Summit and it expects to receive a 15 percent share of the fund to address the additional challenges that climate change poses to Bangladesh’s MDG gains.
Bangladesh Progress Report 2009 on MDGs shows that the country has also achieved remarkable progress in reducing the incidence of communicable diseases and in improving indicators on environmental changes.
However, overall education sector faces significant challenges in achieving the targets which include reaching the marginal populations, ensuring survival rate to grade V, improving quality of primary education and increasing share of education in government budget.
The Progress Report, 4th of its kind, was released at a function at Sonargaon Hotel in the city on Wednesday afternoon. General Economic Division and Planning Commission jointly arranged the report launching ceremony. The report will be placed in the 2010 MDG review meeting in New York.
General Economic Division and Planning Commission of the government, the UN system in Bangladesh and five Thematic Working Groups prepared the report titled `Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report 2009’.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Planning Minister Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Mashiur Rahman and member of General Economic Division Prof Dr Shamsul Alam, among others, spoke on the occasion.
The progress report shows that Bangladesh is on its way to achieve targeted prevalence of poverty by 2015; however, the hunger target might not be achieved due to the challenges of food security in the country.
“The key challenges to future poverty reduction include lack of programme coordination and harmonization, structural constraints, lack of diversity in food crop, chronic under nutrition in children and weakness in proper targeting and efficiency,” the report says.
Notable progress through a range of initiatives has also been made in the field of democratic governance and human rights, it says.
Meanwhile, maternal mortality rate (MMR) declined by 40 percent during the 1990-2005 period but remained stable in the following four years that has become a matter of concern for Bangladesh.
Addressing the function, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said that though Bangladesh has progressed much in some areas, malnutrition remains a real problem of Bangladesh.
“I think Bangladesh is on the right track in achieving MDGs though there are some areas where problems need to be addressed,” he said.
Planning Minister AK Khandker said Bangladesh has achieved certain targets and efforts are on to achieve the remaining targets within the next five years. He emphasized enhancement of global support in this regard.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said: “It’s quite inspiring to know that in most of the sectors we’ve done reasonably well. In our mixed achievement, during the last two decades, we’ve achieved good progress in the areas of net enrolment in primary education, in gender parity, infant and child mortality, immunization coverage, supply of drinking water, and sanitation.”
She, however, said there is need to work more in other areas like employment generation, reduction in the dropout rate in primary education, increasing adult literacy rate, creation of more employment for women, reduction of maternal mortality, increasing the forest coverage and spreading ICT knowledge.
Dipu Moni said: “We’ve a challenging task ahead. The most significant challenge is to sustain the achievements we’ve achieved so far… only five years are left to reach the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It’s time for us to look into these matters with due determination to redouble our efforts.”
PM’s Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman said resource shortfall is the major problem that the country has been facing in achieving the MDGs.
END/UNB/
Dhaka, Sept 15 (UNB) – Bangladesh has made significant progress in certain areas towards achieving MDGs (millennium development goals) by 2015 that include reducing child mortality, primary schooling, and gender parity in primary and secondary level education.
Bangladesh, as the country most vulnerable to the global menace of climate change, needs to get urgent support pledged by the world leaders at the Copenhagen Climate Summit and it expects to receive a 15 percent share of the fund to address the additional challenges that climate change poses to Bangladesh’s MDG gains.
Bangladesh Progress Report 2009 on MDGs shows that the country has also achieved remarkable progress in reducing the incidence of communicable diseases and in improving indicators on environmental changes.
However, overall education sector faces significant challenges in achieving the targets which include reaching the marginal populations, ensuring survival rate to grade V, improving quality of primary education and increasing share of education in government budget.
The Progress Report, 4th of its kind, was released at a function at Sonargaon Hotel in the city on Wednesday afternoon. General Economic Division and Planning Commission jointly arranged the report launching ceremony. The report will be placed in the 2010 MDG review meeting in New York.
General Economic Division and Planning Commission of the government, the UN system in Bangladesh and five Thematic Working Groups prepared the report titled `Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report 2009’.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Planning Minister Air Vice Marshal (retd) AK Khandker, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Economic Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Mashiur Rahman and member of General Economic Division Prof Dr Shamsul Alam, among others, spoke on the occasion.
The progress report shows that Bangladesh is on its way to achieve targeted prevalence of poverty by 2015; however, the hunger target might not be achieved due to the challenges of food security in the country.
“The key challenges to future poverty reduction include lack of programme coordination and harmonization, structural constraints, lack of diversity in food crop, chronic under nutrition in children and weakness in proper targeting and efficiency,” the report says.
Notable progress through a range of initiatives has also been made in the field of democratic governance and human rights, it says.
Meanwhile, maternal mortality rate (MMR) declined by 40 percent during the 1990-2005 period but remained stable in the following four years that has become a matter of concern for Bangladesh.
Addressing the function, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said that though Bangladesh has progressed much in some areas, malnutrition remains a real problem of Bangladesh.
“I think Bangladesh is on the right track in achieving MDGs though there are some areas where problems need to be addressed,” he said.
Planning Minister AK Khandker said Bangladesh has achieved certain targets and efforts are on to achieve the remaining targets within the next five years. He emphasized enhancement of global support in this regard.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said: “It’s quite inspiring to know that in most of the sectors we’ve done reasonably well. In our mixed achievement, during the last two decades, we’ve achieved good progress in the areas of net enrolment in primary education, in gender parity, infant and child mortality, immunization coverage, supply of drinking water, and sanitation.”
She, however, said there is need to work more in other areas like employment generation, reduction in the dropout rate in primary education, increasing adult literacy rate, creation of more employment for women, reduction of maternal mortality, increasing the forest coverage and spreading ICT knowledge.
Dipu Moni said: “We’ve a challenging task ahead. The most significant challenge is to sustain the achievements we’ve achieved so far… only five years are left to reach the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It’s time for us to look into these matters with due determination to redouble our efforts.”
PM’s Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman said resource shortfall is the major problem that the country has been facing in achieving the MDGs.
END/UNB/
Saturday, September 4, 2010
New Industrial Policy likely to get cabinet nod on Monday; GDP growth to exceed 7% if policy directives implemented properly: Industries Minister
By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 4 (UNB) – The much-expected new Industrial Policy of the country is likely get approval from the Cabinet on Monday, said officials.
The government hopes further boost in GDP growth that means more output, employment and income and, in consequence, more wellbeing for the people.
“The new industrial policy will help achieve higher economic growth…I hope GDP growth will exceed 7 percent if the directives mentioned in the policy are properly implemented,” Industries Minister Dilip Barua told UNB.
The government set a 6.7 percent GDP growth target for fiscal 2010-11, which the government thinks as an imperative for the country to become a middle income country by 2015.
Asked about the possibility of getting the formal approval of the Cabinet on Monday’s weekly meeting, Barua said: “I’m hopeful…it’ll get approval without any major changes.”
He expected the industrial policy to play vital role in fulfilling the government target of 40 per cent contribution of industrial sector in the national income and increase employment generation by around 25 per cent within 2021.
Industries Ministry sources said the new industrial policy would play a vital role in both industrial development and economic growth, and it will have specific guidelines on industrialization in the country with a vision till 2021.
The policy will also back government’s decision not to privatize any profitable units in future and not to handover any state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to private ownership without first creating alternative employment opportunities for those who might get laid-off.
The SME sector will receive priority in the coming industrial policy as the government believes this sector will help keep the wheels of the country’s economy running.
Earlier, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at a meeting on August 3 cleared draft Industrial Policy and sent it to the cabinet for approval.
A three-member committee headed by Board of Investment (BoI) executive chairman SA Samad scrutinized the draft industrial policy.
After necessary scrutiny, the draft policy with some minor changes was placed before the cabinet committee on Economic Affairs for its consideration.
The draft of the new industrial policy was first placed in the meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs for its perusal in January this year.
The new industrial policy gives priority to special economic zones and enhanced foreign direct investment.
END/UNB/AKM/
Dhaka, Sept 4 (UNB) – The much-expected new Industrial Policy of the country is likely get approval from the Cabinet on Monday, said officials.
The government hopes further boost in GDP growth that means more output, employment and income and, in consequence, more wellbeing for the people.
“The new industrial policy will help achieve higher economic growth…I hope GDP growth will exceed 7 percent if the directives mentioned in the policy are properly implemented,” Industries Minister Dilip Barua told UNB.
The government set a 6.7 percent GDP growth target for fiscal 2010-11, which the government thinks as an imperative for the country to become a middle income country by 2015.
Asked about the possibility of getting the formal approval of the Cabinet on Monday’s weekly meeting, Barua said: “I’m hopeful…it’ll get approval without any major changes.”
He expected the industrial policy to play vital role in fulfilling the government target of 40 per cent contribution of industrial sector in the national income and increase employment generation by around 25 per cent within 2021.
Industries Ministry sources said the new industrial policy would play a vital role in both industrial development and economic growth, and it will have specific guidelines on industrialization in the country with a vision till 2021.
The policy will also back government’s decision not to privatize any profitable units in future and not to handover any state-owned enterprises (SoEs) to private ownership without first creating alternative employment opportunities for those who might get laid-off.
The SME sector will receive priority in the coming industrial policy as the government believes this sector will help keep the wheels of the country’s economy running.
Earlier, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at a meeting on August 3 cleared draft Industrial Policy and sent it to the cabinet for approval.
A three-member committee headed by Board of Investment (BoI) executive chairman SA Samad scrutinized the draft industrial policy.
After necessary scrutiny, the draft policy with some minor changes was placed before the cabinet committee on Economic Affairs for its consideration.
The draft of the new industrial policy was first placed in the meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs for its perusal in January this year.
The new industrial policy gives priority to special economic zones and enhanced foreign direct investment.
END/UNB/AKM/
2-day inter-governmental meeting of SAARC members begins in city; 80% work on finalizing draft of SAARC Charter of Democracy done: FS
By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Sept 4 (UNB) – Representatives of the SAARC member states in a two-day inter-governmental meeting that began here Saturday have almost finalized the draft of ‘SAARC Charter of Democracy’, said Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes.
Emerging from the ongoing meeting at Hotel Sheraton in the city, Quayes said at a brief press briefing in the evening that they would come up with the complete outcome on the draft tomorrow (Sunday).
“We’ve progressed much…we can say nearly 80 percent work is done. We hope we’ll be able to come up with the final outcome tomorrow,” he said.
Asked about the contents of the draft, Quayes declined to divulge anything. He said: “We’ve the responsibility of preparing a draft…it’ll go through two more processes once the draft is done. We’re working on it and all the members of the SAARC countries are very sincere about the issue.”
Earlier, the two-day meeting tasked with finalizing the draft of the `SAARC Charter of Democracy’ began at Hotel Sheraton in the morning.
Representatives including parliamentarians, High Commissioners, high officials from the eight member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives - are attending the meeting.
Leaders of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) at the 16th Summit in Thimpu, appreciating that all member states had evolved into multiparty democracies, underlined the challenges faced by them in ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable government.
In this regard, they emphasized on regional cooperation to strengthen good governance.
As per a decision of the Summit, Bangladesh circulated the Concept Paper on Charter of Democracy and convened the inter-governmental meeting in Dhaka.
Recognizing the inherent link between democracy and development, the member states expressed their commitment to have a SAARC Charter of Democracy which will strengthen democratic institutions and process, promote practice of democracy at all levels of government and society, and promote rule of law.
The ongoing meeting is examining the broad principles on democracy for inclusion in a regionally agreed document and also how the SAARC member states, people’s representatives and civil society can work towards strengthening democracy and democratic practices in South Asia.
END/UNB/AKM/
Dhaka, Sept 4 (UNB) – Representatives of the SAARC member states in a two-day inter-governmental meeting that began here Saturday have almost finalized the draft of ‘SAARC Charter of Democracy’, said Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes.
Emerging from the ongoing meeting at Hotel Sheraton in the city, Quayes said at a brief press briefing in the evening that they would come up with the complete outcome on the draft tomorrow (Sunday).
“We’ve progressed much…we can say nearly 80 percent work is done. We hope we’ll be able to come up with the final outcome tomorrow,” he said.
Asked about the contents of the draft, Quayes declined to divulge anything. He said: “We’ve the responsibility of preparing a draft…it’ll go through two more processes once the draft is done. We’re working on it and all the members of the SAARC countries are very sincere about the issue.”
Earlier, the two-day meeting tasked with finalizing the draft of the `SAARC Charter of Democracy’ began at Hotel Sheraton in the morning.
Representatives including parliamentarians, High Commissioners, high officials from the eight member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives - are attending the meeting.
Leaders of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) at the 16th Summit in Thimpu, appreciating that all member states had evolved into multiparty democracies, underlined the challenges faced by them in ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable government.
In this regard, they emphasized on regional cooperation to strengthen good governance.
As per a decision of the Summit, Bangladesh circulated the Concept Paper on Charter of Democracy and convened the inter-governmental meeting in Dhaka.
Recognizing the inherent link between democracy and development, the member states expressed their commitment to have a SAARC Charter of Democracy which will strengthen democratic institutions and process, promote practice of democracy at all levels of government and society, and promote rule of law.
The ongoing meeting is examining the broad principles on democracy for inclusion in a regionally agreed document and also how the SAARC member states, people’s representatives and civil society can work towards strengthening democracy and democratic practices in South Asia.
END/UNB/AKM/
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