United News of Bangladesh

A day-long business summit was held in Melbourne on Saturday to connect South Asian entrepreneurs with Australian entrepreneurs to promote innovation in digital economy, exchange of knowledge and partnership, organisers said in a statement. More than 300 successful entrepreneurs attended the summit held at the Crown Conference Hall in Melbourne, it said. It said the main aim of the summit was to help emerging and existing entrepreneurs by bringing together both Australia-based and global leaders, decision makers, global industrialists from major sectors like education, health and wellbeing, digital technology, real estate and property investment.

A visiting Bangladeshi business delegation met the Turkish Minister for Trade Dr. Mehmut MUS at his Ministry in Ankara and discussed ways to increase bilateral trade between the two brotherly nations. The President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) Rizwan Rahman led the business team in Turkiye. During the meeting, Rizwan Rahman said that the bilateral trade at present between Bangladesh and Turkiye is around USD $900 million which is not satisfactory at all. The existing bilateral trade can be enhanced to over USD $2 billion through more trade diversification. He also said that the progress in public-private and B2B partnership between the two countries remains low. Turkish investors can consider Bangladesh’s 100 economic zones and 28 high-tech parks as their preferred investment destinations. Moreover, Joint Economic Commission meetings should be held regularly to arrange effective joint exhibitions and seminars on bilateral economic issues and address trade issues. Furthermore, Bangladesh and Türkiye can work and advocate together to form an effective D-8 economic bloc, Rizwan said. The Turkish Minister for Trade agreed that the bilateral trade between the two countries is not up to the expected level. He also termed Bangladesh as an attractive investment destination. Both countries should work together to enhance this trade volume. Mehmut said that a few Turkish companies are already doing their businesses in Bangladesh and they are doing very well. And this success will be an example for others to invest in Bangladesh. The Ambassador of Bangladesh in Ankara, Mosud Mannan, was also present during the meeting.

Robi Axiata has appointed Rajeev Sethi as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, the company said in a statement on Monday. He will be replacing M. Riyaaz Rasheed, who has been serving as Robi’s Acting Chief Executive Officer since August, 2021. Rasheed will now focus on his role as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. The statement said the Board of Directors of Robi Axiata Limited made the decision considering his notable success in turning around Myanmar’s leading mobile operator, Ooredoo, as its CEO. Prior to that he has successfully served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Airtel for Africa. Read:Robi signs tower-sharing deal with Teletalk, Summit He is also no stranger to Bangladesh as he had earlier served as the Chief Executive Officer of Telenor’s subsidiary, Grameenphone Limited. Joint Acting Group CEOs of Axiata Group Berhad, Dr Hans Wijayasuriya and Vivek Sood welcomed him as the new boss of the company in a challenging time in Bangladesh where telecommucation sector is going trough a number of challenges to move forward. “With market leadership in 4G and digital innovation, Robi is now well poised for its next wave of growth. At this point in Robi’s journey, we are very happy to have a widely regarded prolific growth driver like Rajeev Sethi taking on the leadership role of Robi,” they said in the statement.   Read: Tap offers bonus data, cashback on Robi, Airtel internet packages They said Rajeev’s leadership is crucial at a time when Robi is preparing to celebrate its 25th year of operation. “Rajeev’s leadership will certainly generate fresh momentum for Robi’s competitive strides in the Bangladesh market,” it said. The statement said Rajeev is considered to be an accomplished executive possessing a wealth of domestic and international experience of leading organisations in both startup and established stage with a strong track record of excelling in dynamic and demanding environment. Read Robi launches sales academy On assuming the role of Robi’s CEO, Rajeev said: “I am very excited to have the privilege of working with the leading digital company of Bangladesh, Robi Axiata Limited. Over the years, it has truly evolved into a digital telco that thrives on innovation.” “The best part is that the culture of innovation is deeply entrenched in Robi which bodes well for future growth. I am very confident that with the support of the team Robi, we can make significant gain in market share in the coming days,” he added. Robi Axiata's new CEO Rajeev Sethi has significant ICT industry experience, including executive engagements in companies such as Vodafone, HP, Hutchison Telecom and Asian Paints. Sethi received an MBA in Marketing, Finance and Operations from the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow. Read World HRD Congress: Robi scores Asia's Best Employer Brand Awards 2022

Bangladesh needs promotional campaigns in Turkiye to attract FDI (foreign direct investment), said Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) President Rizwan Rahman. An 86-member business delegation of the Dhaka Chamber led by its president attended a forum on “Exploring trade and investment opportunities between Bangladesh and Turkiye” in Istanbul organized by Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkiye (DEIK) on Thursday, according to a press release. Rizwan said Bangladesh is ready to take Turkish investment right at this moment. It needs to be figured out if there are any tariff and non-tariff barriers in terms of exporting to Turkiye, he added. He also stressed on knowledge transfer and technology transfer, research and knowledge sharing. He invited Turkish carpet makers to import quality jute from Bangladesh. He further termed RMG value chain, automotive, leather and footwear, pharmaceutical, plastic and infrastructure as the potential sectors for Turkish entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Mentioning that export grew by 34.38% till June 2022 despite Covid situation, he said that Bangladesh has a good demographic dividend. The total working age people is 65% in Bangladesh. The Turkiye-Bangladesh Business Council was established in 2011 and the Bangladesh-Turkiye Business Forum was established in 2022. Moreover both the countries are member states of D8 and OIC. He also suggested forming a joint economic commission with an active participation of the private sector. During the meeting Chairman of DEIK/Turkiye-Bangladesh Business Council Onur Ozden said Turkish entrepreneurs are already in operation in Bangladesh and the others are very keen to explore these possibilities further. But the bilateral trade between these two countries should be increased and for that exchange of such business delegations would be the best option. Ambassador of Turkiye in Bangladesh Mostafa Osman Turan said Bangladesh is giving different fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to the foreign investors. B2B in that case plays a vital role for enhancing trade and investment. He also said that at present bilateral trade has crossed USD1.3 billion and it has a potential to grow more. Bangladesh’s market is a large market and Turkish investors may explore this opportunity. Infrastructure development, policy reforms and ease of business registration process will attract Turkish investors in Bangladesh, he added. Ambassador of Bangladesh in Ankara Mosud Mannan said private sectors of both the countries need to play a catalytic role. Despite there being a language barrier between the two countries but still it can be overcome, he added. Bangladesh government will establish 100 economic zones with different lucrative packages and that will foster foreign investors to come and invest in Bangladesh, hoped Mosud. More than 110 companies invited by DEIK joined for an interactive B2B session with the DCCI business delegation members after the business forum. At the end, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Istanbul Gedik University. DCCI President Rizwan Rahman and President, Board of Trustees, Istanbul Gedik University Hulya Gedik signed the document on behalf of their respective organizations. Mohammad Nore-Alam, Consul General of Bangladesh to Istanbul was also present during the meeting.

The trade and investment opportunities between Bangladesh and Turkiye will see high prospects in future, said Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI) President Rizwan Rahman. An 86-member business delegation of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) is visiting Istanbul of Turkiye to explore new trade and investment opportunities and attended the Turkiye-Bangladesh business forum arranged by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, according to après release. Dhaka Chamber President Rizwan said the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Turkiye was USD 871.55 million in FY2020-21 which is in favour of Bangladesh. “Turkiye is the 23rd largest export destination of Bangladesh. Turkiye is the 29th largest foreign investor in Bangladesh amounting USD30.51 million.” Bangladesh and Turkiye can work and advocate together to form an effective D-8 economic bloc, said Rizwan. He urged Turkiye to transfer state-of-the-art industrial technology. He also urged for capacity building of SMEs, research collaboration, strengthening agro-value chain and knowledge exchange. He later invited Turkish investors to invest in Bangladesh as well as import more from Bangladesh. In welcome note, Burhan Polat, Executive Board Member of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, said Bangladesh is one of the important countries in the South Asian region in terms of trade and investment and Bangladesh is maintaining a steady economic growth for the last few decades, he added. Bangladesh in recent times is doing better in the leather, pharmaceutical, RMG and light engineering sector, Burhan said. “Turkish market is one of the potential places for the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs.” To boost bilateral trade he urged to sign trade agreement. He also stressed on enhancing liaison between the private sectors of these two countries. Istanbul Chamber, one the largest trade organizations in the world with more than 6 lakh members, will be happy to extend its full out cooperation to the Bangladeshi investors to explore new investment opportunities in Turkiye, said its Executive Board Member. Later the business delegation members of Dhaka Chamber had an interactive business to business match making with more than 350 Turkish companies of different manufacturing and service sectors after the business forum. After that Rizwan Rahman had a separate meeting with the President of Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Şekib Avdagiç.

FBCCI recently signed an MoU with Greater New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry with a view to facilitating mainstream trade and investment between Bangladesh and USA. The signing ceremony took place at the seminar titled " 25th September: Bangabandhu's Vision and Bangladeshi Immigrant Day" on Sunday in New York, USA. President of the two chambers Md. Jashim Uddin and Mark Jeff signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations. FBCCI president Jashim Uddin urged the US Companies to source other products apart of RMG from Bangladesh’s diverse export basket as The USA remained a friend to Bangladesh’s journey to growth and resiliency. He said that Bangladesh embarked on a new round of reforms to strengthen and modernize the private sector in a bid to unleash the country's potential to drive industrialization, diversified, and export-led growth.

The USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity published the Easy Export Series for the Bangladeshi fresh fruit and vegetable, frozen foods, and processed food exporters to understand compliance with international food safety standards. On Monday, the Trade Activity launched the first of the series, ‘Food safety guidelines for exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Europe’ at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the capital.  AHM Ahsan, Vice Chairman, Export Promotion Bureau was the Chief Guest of the ceremony where Dr Syed Md Rafiqul Amin, Director, Plant Quarantine Wing, Department of Agricultural Extension, and Professor Abu Noman Faruq Ahmmed, Chairman, Department of, Plant Pathology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University were the special guests.  The event was chaired by Mashuk Al Hossain, Deputy Chief of Party, Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity.  According to the Trade Activity officials, the Easy Export Series will be released quarterly, with the first module addressing Bangladesh’s regulatory requirements for exporting fresh fruits and vegetables; the second module will address the EU’s food safety requirements for the import of fresh fruits and vegetables.  The third module will address international food safety requirements for food processors in GCC countries, and the fourth module will tackle the food chain traceability system.   The USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Trade Activity supports the Government of Bangladesh in bolstering economic growth and food security by improving trade facilitation, enhancing market access, and improving the business-enabling market. The Activity provides technical assistance, training, institutional strengthening, and other direct support to the Government of Bangladesh and non-governmental partners. It also promotes greater collaboration among the government, private sector, and civil society organizations.

Bangladesh’s leading multinational electronics brand Walton’s android smart television is apparently getting a great response in Ireland – displayed and sold in one of the largest retail stores, DID Electrical. It's a milestone towards the market expansion of Walton's business in Europe and also achieving the vision of becoming a top global consumer electronics brand, said a press release. Syed Al Imran, vice-president of Walton’s Global Business Division (GBD) and also in-charge of the Europe market, said, “This year, Walton TV expanded its brand business to some European countries including Ireland.” Walton delivered the first shipment of its 32, 43 and 55-inch android Smart TV to Ireland in April last. Ireland’s renowned consumer electronics appliance company, Sommer Limited, is marketing the Walton brand television, he added. Read: Walton expands TV business in Georgia Walton TV’s Chief Business Officer (CBO) Engineer Mostafa Nahid Hossain said the market expansion of TV exports to Ireland is a milestone towards achieving Walton's ‘Go Global 2030’ vision. Geographically, Ireland is a promising market. Great Britain is its neighbouring country. Walton TV export to Ireland has created the opportunities to expand its brand business to market of Great Britain, he said Walton is now exporting 'Made in Bangladesh' labelled TVs to more than 35 countries through its hundreds of global business partners. The European market holds almost 95 percent of the total exports of Walton TV.

An 86-member business delegation from Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) will leave for Istanbul, Türkiye on Tuesday on a four-day visit. DCCI President Rizwan Rahman will be leading the business delegation. The purpose of the visit will be to explore a new scope of business and investment cooperation especially in the diverse manufacturing, general trading and service sectors with a view to identify potential business partners for joint venture investment, attract FDI from Türkiye to Bangladesh and vice versa. Bangladesh and Türkiye have been maintaining a friendly diplomatic and economic relation since ages, said the chamber body on Monday ahead of the visit. The long standing bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Türkiye reached a “new height” with increasing trade and investment cooperation in diverse areas. To steer this friendly economic relation, the DCCI is leading the business delegation to Istanbul, Türkiye. During this business trip, the delegation will have several interactive business meetings with one of the largest Chambers in the world, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEIK). Moreover, there will be Türkiye-Bangladesh Business Forum, business to business (B2B) match-makings, industry visits and meetings with the Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet MUS. Members of the DCCI business delegation will also visit a few Industrial Zones of Turkey.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI) has invited the US entrepreneurs to invest in Bangladesh‘s ICT sector after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared to establish a dedicated economic zone for the US companies. The PM made the announcement in New York at U.S.-Bangladesh Business Council meeting organized by the US Chamber of Commerce on September 22, said the apex trade body in a press release Friday. Read: FBCCI wants testing lab at ports for ease of doing business FBCCI President Md. Jashim Uddin said the USA should take the advantage of investing in Bangladesh, the fastest growing economy in South Asia, regional supply chains and its demographic dividend. Bangladesh could also benefit from America’s expertise in research and service innovation, he said. The FBCCI President said he expects that the relationship between the USA and Bangladesh will expand beyond the traditional areas and both sides would explore growing prospects in frontier technologies, robotics and block chain, space, bio-health, and others. "At your request, Bangladesh would be happy to offer a dedicated ‘Special Economic Zone’ (SEZ) solely for the US investors," the FBCCI quoted the PM as saying. Read: FBCCI-led 62-member delegation in India to elevate bilateral trade ties PM Hasina is currently visiting the USA to attend the 77th United Nations General Assembly. The PM invited US businesses to invest in Bangladesh specially in 100 ‘Special Economic Zones’ (SEZs), and the several Hi-tech Parks. With more than 600,000 freelancing IT professionals, she said “Bangladesh is the right destination for IT investments. Moreover, availability of young, skilled workers at a competitive wage is an added advantage”.