Somali authorities on Sunday ended a deadly attack in which at least 20 people were killed and many others wounded when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital. It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to contain the fighters who had stormed Mogadishu's Hayat Hotel on Friday evening in an assault that started with loud explosions. The siege ended around midnight, police commissioner Abdi Hassan Hijar told reporters. “During the attack, the security forces rescued many civilians trapped in the hotel, including women and children," he said. Police are yet to give a detailed explanation of how the attack unfolded. It remains unclear how many gunmen entered the hotel. Read: Market blast in north Syria kills 15 people, wounds dozens Ismail Abdi, the hotel's manager, told The Associated Press that security forces were still working to clear the area. No more gunfire could be heard after 9 a.m. local time. Onlookers gathered outside the gates of the badly damaged hotel on Sunday morning, surveying the scene. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest of its frequent attempts to strike places visited by government officials. The attack on the hotel is the first major terror incident in Mogadishu since Somalia’s new leader, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took over in May. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack, according to a spokesman's statement that said the U.N. supports the people of Somalia ”in their fight against terrorism and their march towards peace.”  

The weeklong ‘Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit-2021’ ends with entrepreneurs showing interest to invest $1.16 billion. A report on the outcome of the summit, jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), was revealed at a press conference on Monday. Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh and DCCI President Rizwan Rahman spoke at the press conference held at DCCI Auditorium in the capital. Rizwan Rahman said 369 B2Bs firms attended the summit in addition to 552 local and foreign companies from 38 countries. They showed interest to invest $1.16 billion in Bangladesh. “Tewenty companies from 13 countries showed interest to go for joint ventures, while 26 products have been identified as potential for export from Bangladesh,” the DCCI President told journalists. Five countries showed interest in direct investment in sectors like infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, baby bottle, umbrella, agro and food processing and IT, he said.  Power, energy, renewable energy, dairy products, FMCG, RMG, leather, automobile and jute are some of the sectors that have foreign investment opportunities. In different sessions under this summit, Rizwan said, speakers underscored the need for improving the ease of doing business, policy reforms, technology adaptation, skill development, fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, strong economic diplomacy and signing FTA or PTA with potential trading partners.  Bangladesh has the ability to grab huge opportunities from African, Asia and Pacific and Middle Eastern countries in terms of inward or outward investments. The most important thing is to enhance the country’s export competitiveness in the global market after its LDC graduation.  “Bangladesh is already a member of some regional blocks like SAFTA, APTA, D-8. However, the country needs to go for PTA or FTA with other major trading partners. It came out of the summit that Bangladesh also has a large consumer market, so local market resource mobilization and tariff rationalization are also important,” Rizwan pointed out. READ: Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit to kick off on Oct 26 Speakers also reiterated their demand for a strong and vibrant bond market and innovative blended financing model to ensure long-term infrastructure financing.    Replying to questions from the journalists, Tapan Kanti said  Bangladesh may need to sign FTA or PTA with potential trading partners like EU countries, the UK, Canada, Japan and Australia after the  LDC graduation. But averaging duty structure on both sides is critical before signing FTA but the government of Bangladesh is working on it, he said. For FTA, a drastic duty cut is not possible as it may hamper internal revenue generation and local manufacturers but it may be considered gradually, the DCCI president added. Besides, it is the government's duty to safeguard the interests of local industries, he mentioned.  Regarding the ease of doing business, he said the government is trying to bring all its major services, for instance, land registration, mutation, company registration in joint stock companies under automation that will ease the process simplification in the near future.  READ: FBCCI keen to sign MoU with top Spanish trade body He also said the Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit 2021 has been successfully organized by the Ministry of Commerce and DCCI to showcase Bangladesh’s readiness to attract investment after Covid and brand the positive image of the country to the world.