The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of  Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has signed a memorandum of understanding with MEDEF International (Mouvement des Entreprises de France International) to boost bilateral trade and investment.       The MoU was signed at France-Bangladesh Business Council Meeting organized by MEDEF International and Embassy of Bangladesh yesterday at Paris in France.     Md Jashim Uddin, President of FBCCI and Pierre - Jean Malgouyres, Chairman of the France - Bangladesh Business Council, MEDEF International, inked the  deal on behalf of their respective organizations, said a press release.     Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addressed the event virtually as the chief guest.     Dr A K Abdul Momen, Foreign Minister, Salman F Rahman, Private Industry and Investment Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Khondker M Talha  Ambassador of Bangladesh to France were also present in the meeting.     Addressing the meeting, FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin stated that Bangladesh attaches great importance to its existing cordial relations with France. The two countries have a long-lasting bilateral relationship.     He also mentioned that France is the fifth largest export destination of Bangladesh with rising trend with major export products like woven garments, knitwear, home textile and footwear.        "But, there is the full potential of export items like plastic and light engineering products, frozen food, diversified jute  and leather goods, ceramic etc. to France from Bangladesh," he noted.     The FBCCI President said that the year of 2021 is a grand milestone as Bangladesh is celebrating three important occasions: The birth centenary of  Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, nation's 50 years of independence and as per Prime Minister's dream all criteria set by UN has  been fulfilled to graduate a developing country.     Jashim said Bangladesh offers best competitive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for investment. Manufacturers of Bangladesh are adopting greener technologies and modern productions methods aligned with 4IR and challenges of climate change. Among the world's top 10 green RMG factories, the top 7 are located in Bangladesh.     "To ensure inclusive growth, Bangladesh requires huge foreign Direct Investment. Industrial enterprises of France particularly those, which are facing rising costs of their competitiveness, may find Bangladesh as an ideal  destination for relocation of their industry in Bangladesh," he added.     He hoped that the signing of MoU, would help further promoting cooperation between FBCCI and MEDEF for diversifying trade and expanding investment in an  effective manner.     Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, Senior Vice President, FBCCI, M A Momen, Md Aminul Haque Shamim, Md Amin Helaly, Vice Presidents of FBCCI, Md Rejaul  Kariem Rejnu, CIP, Tosaddek Hossain Khan Tito, Priti Chakraborty, Shomi Kaiser, Syed Sadat Almas Kabir, Dr Nadia Binte Amin, Md Saiful Islam, Khan Ahmed Shuvo, Dr Ferdousi Begum, Directors of FBCCI, Md Helal Uddin, Former Vice-President, FBCCI, Prabir Kumar Saha, Khondaker Mashiuzzaman (Romel), Engr Mohd Mohabbat Ullah, Former Directors of FBCCI, Nihad Kabir, President, MCCI Dhaka, Jesmin Akhter and Saiful Alam, Director, Bengal Group of Industries, Sajeda Zaman, Director, Peoples Energy Ltd. also joined the meeting, among others.  Source: BSS AH

Bengal Group Vice Chairman, Bengal Commercial Bank Chairman and Rtv Vice Chairman Md. Jasim Uddin has been greeted on behalf of Rtv as he was elected president of country’s top business organization FBCCI. Rtv Chief Executive Officer Syed Ashik Rahman greeted him at Bengal Group head office. Rtv Deputy Head of News Mamunur Rahman Khan, program department Chief Dewan Shamsur Rakib and marketing and sales department Chief Sudeb Ghosh were present at that period. Greetings were also paid on behalf of Desh General Insurance Limited and BBS Cables during the period. At that time Md. Jasim Uddin said, I want to work by attaching businessmen through FBCCI after facing the challenges of corona to attain goal of the government. He said, we have to work together to formulate policies related to protection of businesses and its expansion along with private entrepreneurs. We want to advance further along with all stakeholders for sustainable and strong economic achievement. Md. Jasim Uddin said, we have to form an international quality committee comprising businessmen, academic and think tankers after formulating specific proposals for private sectors for entering Bangladeshi commodities into international market. FBCCI should work based on research. Bangladesh should achieve the economic opportunities after strengthening communication with other countries of Asia. We want to pay attention to the days to come for unearthing new dimension of success as the country is progressing for implementing sustainable development goal 2030, vision 2041 and Delta Plan targeting the next century under bold leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he added. AH       

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) president Sheikh Fazle Fahim has termed the proposed budget of 2019-20 fiscal year as people oriented and business friendly. He said these at a post budget formal press conference held at FBCCI office on Saturday. Sheikh Fazle Fahim welcomed the opportunity of investing undisclosed or black money in flat, land and industrial sectors without question. In response to a question of a journalist he said, we welcome the opportunity of investing the undisclosed money. Earned money through legal income sometimes may be undisclosed. If that money goes to productive sector than we do not think it as negative. Besides, money laundering will stop if the undisclosed money is invested. The Finance Minister proposed to take 47 thousand 364 crore taka loan from banking sector for meeting current year’s budget deficit. If that is done than private sector is hampered- mentioning that the FBCCI president requested to lay emphasize on foreign source, infrastructure fund, infrastructure bond and other financial sources by decreasing dependency on banking sector to meet the deficit. Sheikh Fazle Fahim said, the target of National Board of Revenue’s controlled revenue income is fixed at 3 lakh 25 thousand 600 crore taka, which is 16.28 per cent more than the revised target of the current year. The target of revenue income is possible to attain through harassment free revenue collection management and proper automation, he commented. AH        

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) sought exemplary punishment for those who have misappropriated and plundered money from the country’s banks. President of the apex trade body M Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin came up with the demand at a post-budget press conference in its office in the capital on Saturday. Reports UNB. “No one from the FBCCI will be lobbying to save those involved in the robbing of money from banks,” he said. Mohiuddin said those involved in the Basic Bank and Farmers Bank scams are under trial but did not mention the name of any particular person. He said this is a good sign that even former parliamentarians and ministers are under trial for their previous misdeeds.  “We don’t want the deposited money of people is robbed of by someone from the banking system.”  The FBCCI President called for lowering the corporate tax for the garment and re-imposing 0.70 percent source tax on exports.  Mohiuddin also demanded that the tax-free income limit at individual level be raised to Tk 3 lakh. Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Thursday proposed a mega budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year. Mohiuddin said the proposed budget is investment-friendly one but it cannot be implemented smoothly for lack of managerial capacity. He urged the government to reduce the same amount of corporate taxes in other sectors. The FBCCI President said the government will have to face challenges in implementing the budget if there is a lack of transparency and accountability. He said the businessmen do not want any such political environment which might have negative impact on the business. Mohiuddin also suggested the government for timely implementation of projects as the cost of those projects escalate exorbitantly for the delays in implementation of the projects. He demanded steps to keep the bank interest rate at single digit and to create an investment-friendly business environment for attracting more domestic and foreign direct investment.  The FBCCI also demanded uninterrupted power supply and development of economic zones as soon as possible. He said the cost of doing business will go down if the budget is implemented. AH