United News of Bangladesh

Adani Wind, the wind energy solutions division of Adani New Industries Limited (ANIL), announced that its 5.2 MW Wind Turbine Generator (WTG), which is India’s largest, has received type certification from WindGuard GmbH. In a recent media statement, it said the certification enables Adani Wind to start series production for global markets.  The certification under IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Renewable Energy Applications (IECRE) affirms that the Adani Wind’s 5.2 MW WTG meets highest quality and safety standards and provides international recognition to this turbine. The type certification acknowledges Adani WTG’s conformity with the globally recognized IEC 61400 series standards and regulations for design, testing and manufacturing. WindGuard carried out the testing of the WTG prototype, installed in Gujarat’s Mundra. Mr Vneet Jaain, director, Adani New Industries Limited, said, the type certificate reaffirms the quality and robustness of our 5.2 MW WTG platform built to bring down Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). The certification is a boost to our endeavor of making India the global manufacturing hub for renewable equipment, he added. Mr Milind Kulkarni, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Adani Wind, said, “The certification is a testament to our R&D efforts focused on enabling higher Annual Energy Production (AEP) of wind power plants and enhancing the profitability for customers. We thank our team for their commitment and unwavering focus on leveraging technology to enable affordable, reliable, and sustainable power for all.”       

President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Mahbubul Alam on Sunday called on the businessmen of Turkey to invest in the potential sectors of Bangladesh. He made this call in a courtesy meeting with Turkish Ambassador Ramis Sen at the FBCCI office in Dhaka. FBCCI President and Turkish Ambassador to Dhaka led the discussions, where they emphasized the deep-rooted friendship between the two nations and their shared determination to bolster economic cooperation. Also read: Japan wants to increase investment in Bangladesh: Japanese envoy told FBCCI During the meeting both Bangladesh and Turkey have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral trade ties. FBCCI President mentioned that Turkish investors could invest in several key sectors within Bangladesh, including oil refining, construction, medicine and industrial chemicals, tourism, agriculture, dairy, shipbuilding, civil aviation, and shipping. Furthermore, FBCCI pledged its full support to Turkish businessmen as they navigate the intricacies of the Bangladeshi market. FBCCI also called for removing customs barriers to facilitate the export of garment products to Turkey, a move that could significantly boost the textile industry in Bangladesh. In response Turkish Ambassador Ramis Sen praised Bangladesh's progress and expressed Turkey's keen interest in expanding trade relations. Also read: Dependence on any market will put Bangladesh at risk: FBCCI President He extended an invitation to a business delegation led by FBCCI to visit Turkey, strengthening the bridge of collaboration between the two nations. FBCCI Vice President Khairul Huda Chopol, Mohammad Anwar Sadat Sarker, Rashadul Hossain Chowdhury (Ronni), Md. Munir Hossain, directors, and others were present at the event. Also read: FBCCI and ICC discuss strengthening trade ties

With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov set to touchdown in Dhaka Thursday, Russia is interested in supplying a number of agricultural commodities to Bangladesh at the “best, most competitive” price, officials said. Russia is interested in expanding cooperation with Bangladesh in supplying various food products such as yellow peas, chickpeas, red lentils, green lentils and sunflower oil on a G-to-G basis. If Bangladesh is interested in developing cooperation in this specific field, the Russians will hold talks with the Ministry of Commerce. Bangladesh is likely to focus on payment issues in light of the US sanctions on Russia, as the offer looks likely to be very competitive on price, officials said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay a working visit to Bangladesh on September 7-8. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen is scheduled to receive him at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 4:15pm on Thursday. They will jointly meet the press at 8pm on Thursday after a bilateral meeting to be held at a city hotel. Lavrov, the world's longest-serving foreign minister, will meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday morning. During the visit, the current state of Russia-Bangladesh relations will be examined in detail, said Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. She said the two sides will also exchange views on the most pressing regional and international problems. They may also discuss issues like food, fertilizers, fuel, and the Rohingya crisis during the Russian Foreign Minister’s visit. "We will discuss the complex situations that have come across the world since the Ukraine crisis. We will highlight the problems that we have," said Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen. Acknowledging a long-standing relationship with Russia, he said Bangladesh can request Russia to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine issue as soon as possible. The two countries will discuss prospects for development of bilateral relations and exchange views on the most pressing regional and international issues, said the Russian Embassy in Dhaka. Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr Momen said Bangladesh would raise the Rohingya issue during the visit of Lavrov. “We will have a bilateral meeting the day he arrives here. We have many bilateral issues to discuss. We have the Rohingya issue, too,” FM Momen said. Lavrov will attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 after completing his visit to Bangladesh. Lavrov was scheduled to visit Bangladesh last November, mainly to attend the 22nd IORA Council of Ministers meeting, but the visit was called off at the last minute. In Delhi, Lavrov is expected to speak at two plenary sessions: on September 9, at the One Planet session, focused on sustainable development and stable economic growth; and on September 10, at the One Future session, with an emphasis on the key tasks of democratisation and strengthening the role of the world majority countries in global economic institutions, as well as implementation of the digital transformation.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Deutsche Bank signed a risk participation agreement to enhance access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia and the Pacific. The agreement was signed between ADB’s Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP) and Deutsche Bank AG through its Singapore branch, said a release of ADB on Tuesday. The agreement will enhance Deutsche Bank’s ability to support SMEs and other corporate clients by releasing more capital for use in key economic sectors in the region, like pharmaceuticals and agriculture, added the release. Read: Global trade finance gap expands to 2.5 trillion USD in 2022: ADB “Partnering with Deutsche Bank will allow companies, particularly SMEs, to access the global supply chain which can spur economic growth and contribute to job creation,” said ADB’s Director General for Private Sector Operations Suzanne Gaboury. “Partnerships like this one allow ADB to catalyze the private sector and mobilize capital for trade transactions that support development across the region.” Supply chain finance is critical to increasing trade by providing working capital to suppliers by leveraging their relationships with larger corporates. With short-term revolving facilities for supply chain finance transactions, this partnership has the potential to support more than 200 million U.S. dollars in additional trade in Asia and the Pacific each year. Read: BIMSTEC Summit: High-profile Bangladesh business delegation to visit Thailand in November “We are proud to partner with ADB on this important initiative. Together, we will help smaller companies achieve growth through better access to supply chain financing. We believe this is important, as we are seeing increasing demand for this in the trade sector,” said Deutsche Bank Head of Trade Finance and Lending for Asia Pacific Matthew Moodey. TSCFP is helping banks in Asia and the Pacific improve their ability to provide supply chain finance, particularly to SMEs. It is working to make global trade and supply chains green, resilient, inclusive, transparent, and socially responsible.

The launch of Biman's Dhaka-Narita (Tokyo) direct flight will enhance trade and relations between the two countries, Badal Chaklader, president of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan (BCCIJ), has said. He said this while speaking at a reception programme organised by BCCIJ in Japan's Tokyo on Sunday (September 03, 2023) night. He also thanked the Bangladesh government and Biman Bangladesh Airlines for launching the direct flight. Read: After Narita (Tokyo), Biman eyeing flights to New York, Chennai, Los Angeles, Rome "We expect that the direct flights would not be discontinued like in the past. We want more Japanese investment in Bangladesh," the BCCIJ president said. “For boosting trade with Japan, initiatives should be taken to operate daily flights in phases. The quality of services offered by the airline should also be enhanced so that domestic and foreign passengers show more interest,” the BCCIJ president added. Business leaders said that Japanese investors were often not interested in going to Bangladesh due to lack of direct flights. It also took a long time for Bangladeshis to travel to and from Japan. Relations and trade between the two countries will reach a new height due to the direct Biman flights, they hoped. They also urged Biman authorities to transport dead bodies of Bangladeshi expatriates to the country free of cost. Business leaders also demanded harassment-free services at Dhaka airport. Read: Dhaka-Narita Tokyo direct flights launched  State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Md Mahbub Ali, said, “We have 50 years of relationship with Japan. This relationship will grow even more due to the direct flights to Japan. Biman resumed flights to Tokyo, Japan after 17 years and it will facilitate passengers as well as cargo transportation.”  “Besides, more Japanese businessmen will now come to Bangladesh and invest here as our country has great potential,” he added.

Amazon employees have been pushing back against the company’s return-to-office policy for months — and it seems CEO Andy Jassy has had enough. During a pre-recorded internal Q&A session earlier this month, Jassy told employees it was “past the time to disagree and commit” with the policy, which requires corporate employees to be in the office three days a week. The phrase “disagree and commit” is one of Amazon’s leadership principles, and was used often by the company’s founder and current executive chairman, Jeff Bezos. Brazil's Amazon Summit ends with a plan to protect the world's rainforests, but no measurable goals “If you can’t disagree and commit, it’s probably not going work out for you at Amazon,” Jassy said, adding it wasn’t right for some employees to be in the office three days a week while others refuse to do so. His comments were first reported by Business Insider, and later shared by Amazon. The current office attendance mandate, which was announced in February and went into effect in May, is a shift from Amazon’s previous policy that allowed leaders to determine how their teams worked. But the company said Tuesday it rejects the notion that the prior policy was supposed to be the norm, and pointed to a blog post from 2021 where Jassy noted Amazon would “continue to adjust” things as more information rolled in. Amazon nations seek common voice on climate change, urge action from industrialized world When announcing the updated policy earlier this year, Jassy wrote in a memo to staff that Amazon made its decision after observing what worked during the pandemic and talking to leaders at other companies. He said the company’s senior executives, known internally as the S-team, concluded employees tended to be more engaged in person and collaborate more easily. But many workers haven’t been convinced. In May, hundreds of Amazon employees protested the new policy during a lunchtime demonstration at the company’s Seattle headquarters. At the time, an internal Slack channel that advocated for remote work had racked up 33,000 members. Some employees have also been pushing the company to supply data that support Jassy’s claims. During the session, Jassy said the company's leadership looked at the data it has available and among other things, he said they didn’t feel that meetings were as effective from home as they were before. He added there are a lot of scenarios where the company has made some of its biggest decisions without perfect data, pointing to examples like Amazon’s decision to pursue an online marketplace for sellers and AWS, its cloud computing unit. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other tech firms agree to AI safeguards set by the White House In July, Amazon also rolled out a policy that requires some workers in smaller offices to move to main offices located in bigger cities, according to multiple media reports. Amazon employs 1.4 million people worldwide but does not indicate how many of those work in office settings, as opposed to working at its warehouses and other sites.

A high-profile business delegation from Bangladesh will visit Thailand in November during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s participation at the BIMSTEC Summit. The sixth BIMSTEC Summit will be held in November 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, in which Bangladesh will assume the chairmanship of the regional grouping. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the event. Thai investors can get opportunities in Bangladesh to invest through the foreign investment friendly policy in the country as the two countries have the similar environmental and cultural ties, said Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Lokman Hossain Miah said in a recent courtesy meeting with newly elected board of directors of Bangladesh-Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTCCI), said the Chamber on Sunday. BTCCI sought all sorts of cooperation and supports from BIDA to make the programme in Thailand successful. BTCCI also requested BIDA Executive Chairman to make available data regarding investment opportunities in Bangladesh especially tax exemption facility, incentives, foreign specialists working at Foreign Companies in Bangladesh. BIDA Executive Chairman assured the business leaders of extending their support to BTCCI’s proposals. He emphasized on the joint venture between Bangladesh and Thailand in some sectors like agro-processing, tourism & hospitality management, jute and jute goods, fisheries, pharmaceuticals etc. Shams Mahmud, President of BTCCI, introduced the newly elected Board of Directors of BTCCI to the BIDA Executive Chairman and its officials. He apprised to BIDA officials regarding on the plan of BTCCI to take necessary steps for enhancing bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Thailand. BTCCI President also emphasized on the increasing export of different products such as pharmaceuticals, jute and jute goods, leather, RMG and ceramics from Bangladesh to Thailand and relocating labor intensive industries in Bangladesh. BIDA Executive Chairman thanked the board of Directors to come forward for the discussion of bilateral issues of Bangladesh and Thailand and extended his appreciation to BTCCI for working to enhance bilateral business relationship between Bangladesh and Thailand. Executive members of BIDA including Mohsina Yasmin, Md. Salem Sulaiman, Vice President, Khemathat Archawathamrong, Honorary Director, Mohammad Junaed Ibne Ali, Director Finance, Shahzada A Hamid, Md. Ahsanuzzaman, Brahmanda Pratap Barua, Directors, Md. Nazmul Hossen ACS, Secretary of BTCCI attended the meeting among others.      

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the United States government's credit rating, citing rising debt at the federal, state, and local levels and a "steady deterioration in standards of governance" over the past two decades. The rating was cut Tuesday one notch to AA+ from AAA, the highest possible rating. The new rating is still well into investment grade. Also read: Moody's downgrades Bangladesh's sovereign credit rating one notch; outlook 'stable' The decision illustrates one way that growing political polarization and repeated Washington standoffs over spending and taxes could end up costing U.S. taxpayers. A lower credit rating, over time, could raise borrowing costs for the U.S. government. It's only the second time in the nation's history that its credit rating has been cut. In 2011, the ratings agency Standard & Poor's stripped the U.S. of its prize AAA rating after a prolonged fight over the government's borrowing limit. The Government Accountability Office, in a 2012 report, estimated that the 2011 budget standoff raised Treasury's borrowing costs by $1.3 billion that year. Also read:  Credit rating companies tie up to let Bangladeshi firms access foreign loans At the same time, the huge size of the U.S. economy and historic stability of the federal government has kept its borrowing costs low. Global investors often flock to U.S. Treasury securities during periods of economic turmoil, lowering the interest rate paid by the U.S. government. Fitch had warned May 24 that it could remove the government's triple-A rating as Congress again struggled to raise the borrowing limit. A deal was reached nearly a week later that suspended the limit and cut about $1.5 trillion from the government deficit over the next decade. Also read: BGMEA president briefs Moody's team on sector's outlook Fitch cited the worsening political divisions around spending and tax policy as a key reason for its decision. It said U.S. governance has declined relative to other highly rated countries and it noted "repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions." Biden administration officials strongly criticized Fitch's move. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it was "arbitrary" and "based on outdated data." Yellen noted that the U.S. economy has rapidly recovered from the pandemic recession, with the unemployment rate near a half-century low and the economy expanding at a solid 2.4% annual rate in the April-June quarter. Fitch informed Biden administration officials that the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection was a factor in its decision to downgrade because it indicated an unstable government, according to a person familiar with the discussions between the administration and the rating agency. Fitch produced a report last year that showed government stability declined from 2018 to 2021, but increased since Biden assumed the presidency, said the person, who was granted anonymity to disclose private conversations. Another factor in Fitch's decision is that it expects the U.S. economy to tumble into a "mild recession" in the final three months of this year and early next year. Economists at the Federal Reserve made a similar forecast this spring but then reversed it in July and said growth would slow but a recession would likely be avoided.  

Smartphone brand OPPO ranked first in the Chinese smartphone market in the first half of 2023 and fourth globally during the same period, boosted by the strong performance of its Find N2 series and Find X6 series flagship smartphones.  According to data from Canalys, OPPO held a 10% share of the global smartphone market in H1, with 51.9 million shipments, and an 18% share of the China smartphone market in H1 2023, making it the best-selling brand in China during the first half of the year, according to a press release. OPPO’s performance has been driven in part by the success of its foldable smartphones, which entered a period of rapid growth this year and continue to show significant upside potential, it said. New data from Canalys showed that OPPO held a dominant 31% share of the foldable smartphone market in China during the first quarter of 2023, making it the leader in the growing segment. At the product level, the OPPO Find N2 Flip outperformed all other foldable products to make up 15% of foldable smartphone sales in China from January to May 2023, according to Counterpoint. As the first vertical flip phone to introduce a larger cover screen, the Find N2 Flip is crafted for practicality and enjoyment for daily use, featuring a less-visible crease, a powerful battery, and an intuitive UI design alongside other industry-leading innovations. These innovations and the commercial success of the Find N2 Flip have also helped OPPO to outperform the global foldable market this year, where its market share has increased from 5% in Q1 2022 to 13% in Q1 2023, according to Canalys.  

President Joe Biden said Friday that new commitments by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other companies that are leading the development of artificial intelligence technology to meet a set of AI safeguards brokered by his White House are an important step toward managing the "enormous" promise and risks posed by the technology. Biden announced that his administration has secured voluntary commitments from seven U.S. companies meant to ensure their AI products are safe before they release them. Some of the commitments call for third-party oversight of the workings of commercial AI systems, though they don't detail who will audit the technology or hold the companies accountable. "We must be clear eyed and vigilant about the threats emerging technologies can pose," Biden said, adding that the companies have a "fundamental obligation" to ensure their products are safe."Social media has shown us the harm that powerful technology can do without the right safeguards in place," Biden added. "These commitments are a promising step, but we have a lot more work to do together." A surge of commercial investment in generative AI tools that can write convincingly human-like text and churn out new images and other media has brought public fascination as well as concern about their ability to trick people and spread disinformation, among other dangers. The four tech giants, along with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and startups Anthropic and Inflection, have committed to security testing "carried out in part by independent experts" to guard against major risks, such as to biosecurity and cybersecurity, the White House said in a statement. That testing will also examine the potential for societal harms, such as bias and discrimination, and more theoretical dangers about advanced AI systems that could gain control of physical systems or "self-replicate" by making copies of themselves. The companies have also committed to methods for reporting vulnerabilities to their systems and to using digital watermarking to help distinguish between real and AI-generated images known as deepfakes. They will also publicly report flaws and risks in their technology, including effects on fairness and bias, the White House said. The voluntary commitments are meant to be an immediate way of addressing risks ahead of a longer-term push to get Congress to pass laws regulating the technology. Company executives plan to gather with Biden at the White House on Friday as they pledge to follow the standards.Some advocates for AI regulations said Biden's move is a start but more needs to be done to hold the companies and their products accountable. "A closed-door deliberation with corporate actors resulting in voluntary safeguards isn't enough," said Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute. "We need a much more wide-ranging public deliberation, and that's going to bring up issues that companies almost certainly won't voluntarily commit to because it would lead to substantively different results, ones that may more directly impact their business models." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he will introduce legislation to regulate AI. He said in a statement that he will work closely with the Biden administration "and our bipartisan colleagues" to build upon the pledges made Friday. A number of technology executives have called for regulation, and several went to the White House in May to speak with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other officials. Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post Friday that his company is making some commitments that go beyond the White House pledge, including support for regulation that would create a "licensing regime for highly capable models." But some experts and upstart competitors worry that the type of regulation being floated could be a boon for deep-pocketed first-movers led by OpenAI, Google and Microsoft as smaller players are elbowed out by the high cost of making their AI systems known as large language models adhere to regulatory strictures. The White House pledge notes that it mostly only applies to models that "are overall more powerful than the current industry frontier," set by currently available models such as OpenAI's GPT-4 and image generator DALL-E 2 and similar releases from Anthropic, Google and Amazon. A number of countries have been looking at ways to regulate AI, including European Union lawmakers who have been negotiating sweeping AI rules for the 27-nation bloc that could restrict applications deemed to have the highest risks. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently said the United Nations is "the ideal place" to adopt global standards and appointed a board that will report back on options for global AI governance by the end of the year. Guterres also said he welcomed calls from some countries for the creation of a new U.N. body to support global efforts to govern AI, inspired by such models as the International Atomic Energy Agency or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The White House said Friday that it has already consulted on the voluntary commitments with a number of countries. The pledge is heavily focused on safety risks but doesn't address other worries about the latest AI technology, including the effect on jobs and market competition, the environmental resources required to build the models, and copyright concerns about the writings, art and other human handiwork being used to teach AI systems how to produce human-like content. Last week, OpenAI and The Associated Press announced a deal for the AI company to license AP's archive of news stories. The amount it will pay for that content was not disclosed.