Annisul Huqthe young bright stat shwoing his talent for several years as being the successful leadersip of BGMEA,FBCCI.

President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Annisul Huq Sunday took over the charge as the president of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SAARC CCI).

Tariq Sayeed, the outgoing president of SAARC CCI handed over the presidency of the prestigious regional Chamber in a colorful ceremony at a city hotel.

Earlier, the Board of Directors of FBCCI unanimously elected Annisul Huq to act as the president of SAARC CCI for the term 2010-2011. Apart from this, FBCCI nominated its directors Golam Dastagir Gazi, Abdul Haque, A.K.M. Nurul Fazal Bulbul and Md. Hasen Ali as Executive Committee Members of SAARC CCI for two years term.

Besides, directors of FBCCI Mohammad Jalal Uddin, Anwar Hossain, Bijoy Kumar Kejriwal, Mahabub Islam Runu and S.M. Shafiuzzaman were also nominated as the General Assembly Members of SAARC CCI for the period.

Thanking for the honor, the newly elected president of SAARC CCI Annisul Huq in his welcome address mentioned that he would extend his all-out efforts to enhance trade and investment among the SAARC countries in his term.

He emphasised on people to people and country to country connectivity among the SAARC region. Mr. Huq also stressed the need to develop confidence among the business community as well as the government of the eight SAARC countries.

Handing over the presidency, Tariq Sayeed, the outgoing president of SAARC CCI expressed his optimism that the SAARC chamber would rise up to new horizon of success under the new leadership.

“Mr Huq is no longer a president of Bangladesh’s federal chamber body only, from now he is the voice of every businessman in the sub-continent,” Mr Sayeed said.

He offered every possible supports from his chamber.

Hon’ble speaker of the National Parliament Advocate Abdul Hamid, finance minister Abul Maal A. Muhith, Civil Aviation and Tourism minister G.M. Kader and governor of Bangladesh Bank Atiur Rahman were present at the program.

Abul Kashem Ahmed, 1st Vice President of FBCCI & incoming Vice President of SAARC CCI (Bangladesh), Abu Alam Chowdhury, Vice President of FBCCI, Iqbal Tabish, Secretary General of SAARC CCI, Executive Committee Members of SAARC CCI, Directors of FBCCI, ambassadors, former FBCCI presidents, leaders of the trade Associations & Chambers and the leading Industrialists and Businessmen of the country also attended the program.

Gu Zhaoxi, Vice Governor, Yunnan Provincial People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China sent a message to Mr. Huq on the occasion which was read out by FBCCI Secretary General Mir. Shahabuddin Mohammad.

Established in December 1992, SAARC CCI is recognised by all the National Governments of SAARC as the apex body of all the National Federations of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The Presidency of SAARC CCI rotates amongst the member countries for a two year term. Comprised by the general assembly, the executive committee and the general secretary, the objectives of the chamber is to encourage trade, service, industry as well as small and medium enterprises through strong business linkages amongst the entrepreneurs of the region of South Asia.

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IT is hitting everymoment with new achivement a, as well as Bangladesh Banking also healed and healing by the gift of IT.

BANGLADESH Bank (BB) has adopted advanced ICT to be digitised in all spheres of its functions including monetary policy, banking supervision and internal management. BB has already introduced e-commerce, e-banking, automated clearing house etc.; a historic move towards achieving higher productivity across all economic sectors including agriculture and SME through use of ICTs. Engineers could be pioneers innovating new applications of ICT, and reaching them to the doorstep of the common people.

The universal role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is vital for socio-economic development of a developing country like Bangladesh. Availability of information helps increase productivity, ensures fair and competitive market and empowers marginal people. Digital technology makes doing things easily from any place — using mobile phone as a medium of money transfer and payment of utility bills, for example.

Digital society means knowledge based society. Therefore, the government has placed the vision of 2021 — the year of Golden Jubilee of our independence. The vision envisages a digital Bangladesh with excellence in information and communication technology and high-performing inclusive economic growth.

If Bangladesh goes digital it will be an e-state combined with e-governance, e-banking, e-commerce, e-learning, e-agriculture, e-health and so on. However, the vision encompasses much more. There is a strong correlation between economic and social development of a country and its proficiency in science and technology, so we need a knowledge-based society, efficient management and skilled human resources as well.

We need to extend ICT facility to every village in Bangladesh, so that even farmers can get access to internet connectivity; acquire related information regarding his/her crop or product development, pricing etc. In this connection, the government has already taken initiatives to connect Bangladesh with the second Submarine Cable Network to have secured connectivity with the information superhighway. Realising the potential of ICT for national development, the government has approved the National ICT Policy, 2009 on priority basis.

It is expected that by 2021, Bangladesh will have a countrywide ICT network and high-speed information flow between centre and periphery. Instructions will be transmitted electronically, which will accelerate the national decision-making process and monitor the performance of all agencies.

High level of internet penetration is a must for the development of ICT. The latest statistics (ITU 2007) revealed that internet penetration is only 0.3% in Bangladesh, whereas the rate is 7.3 and 5.3% respectively in India and Pakistan. However, we too are getting ready to experience higher level of internet penetration, particularly with high density of wireless infrastructure. BB, which is indeed the nerve centre of the financial world, cannot remain behind in this race of digitisation.

Bangladesh Bank, being the monetary authority of the country, is at the forefront of the government’s firm drive to digitise. We have already formulated a 5-year strategic plan for the financial sector based on advanced technological applications to deliver services with utmost efficiency. The ultimate goal is to make BB a world-class central bank with high applications of technologies. It should, in fact, transform itself into a paperless organisation within this plan period.

BB has achieved a historic milestone in the trade and business arena, departing from conventional banking with the introduction of e-commerce recently; a giant stride towards digital Bangladesh. Banks have been allowed to make online money transactions, payment of utility bills through internet, transfer of funds (account to account), payments for trading goods and services, and facilitate online credit card payments in local currency.

Indeed, electronic payments will be considered as cash transactions, which will be regulated under the Anti-Money laundering Act as well as other relevant rules and regulations. It is expected that a national payment gateway, connecting all banks for inter-bank transactions (e-banking), will be established soon. Electronic fund transfer will also be possible in near future. Necessary preparations have already been taken in this direction.

Installation of Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) is another remarkable event in the history of the financial sector in Bangladesh. It will simplify the remittance channel and payment system and, therefore, bring dynamism in business activities.

The system was started in early November 2009 on experimental basis, participated by some well-prepared banks, and will be inaugurated formally soon. Applying sophisticated methods, the system needs only images and corresponding information of the submitted cheque leaves instead of a physical one, and will send them to the Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System (BACPS) using a secured communication link.

New cheques/clearing instruments (standardised) will contain Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) line that encompasses information regarding the amount, transaction code, clients account details, routing number (numeric code assigned to bank branches for easy identification of origin and destination of the instrument), cheque leaf’s serial number and so on. The system will support both intra-regional and inter-regional clearings based on a centralised processing centre in Dhaka and designated clearing regions, and will conform to the international best practices and cost-effective solutions for cheque processing.

Therefore, after getting customers’ cheques for collection in the bank-branch, collecting banks will check the prima facie information of the submitted cheques, capture images and information, and send them to BACPS electronically. BACPS will then process and send the images and information to the paying banks for validation.

Paying banks will examine the pertinent images and information, and send back to the BACPS for payment (further examination if any inconsistency like fund insufficiency or mismatch of signature etc.) Then BACPS will accumulate all the information, work out a single net amount for each bank, and send it back to the collecting banks. As such, the cheque clearing time is expected to be reduced to one day for countrywide payment. In other cases, this will be a matter of couple of hours only.

Mobile banking, using cell phone as a tool, extends banking services to the doors of the people. An account holder can check account history/statement, status on cheques, and payment order, or stop payment, and so forth.

However, initially, three commercial banks have been allowed mobile banking to accelerate inward remittance transfer with the help of the outlets of mobile companies. Recently, BB has strengthened its monitoring and supervision activities on agricultural and SME loans with the help of the existing countrywide mobile network, keeping records of cell phone numbers of farmers and small entrepreneurs.

Online Credit Information Bureau (CIB) report, a pivotal component of risk management measures, is expected to be launched by 2010. Banks and financial institutions will be able to access the CIB data base online, and get the credit report of the concerned borrower. The database will consist of detailed information of individual borrowers, owners and guarantors.

Meantime, a project, On-line Credit Bureau has been started using advanced technology to establish online connectivity between CIB of B B and head offices of all banks and financial institutions. It is crucial to upgrade the capacity of CIB to the policy priority accorded to financial inclusion, expand SME and agricultural lending, and increase overall growth of trade and business.

Online CIB will minimise the extent of default loan by facilitating the banks and financial institutions with credit reports of the loan applicants very quickly, and therefore, lending institutions would not encounter any credit risk while extending lending or rescheduling facility.

A central bank reform program initiated ICT packages include networking, banking application, enterprise resources planning solution, enterprise data warehouse etc., with a view to ensuring efficient management of assets including human resources.

Under the networking program, all the departments of Bangladesh Bank Head Office and its nine branch offices have already been brought under a computer network (LAN/WAN), connecting almost 3,100 PCs. Therefore, any official sitting anywhere (head office or branches) has access to the same kind of resources, and can share knowledge and information and ensure knowledge based management.

Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) solution covers digitisation of procurement (e-procurement), cash management, access control etc. Meanwhile, recruitment process under B B has been digitised (online application, sorting, validation etc.).

Banking application includes automation of all the accounts with B B (banks, financial institutions and government), foreign exchange management, currency management, treasury and securities systems/module, public debt management module, and also establishment of a central depository system (CDS) to build a platform for secondary trading of treasury bills and bonds.

Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) creates an electronic data bank, which will provide all information and statistics of monetary, trade and fiscal areas of the national economy, where all the concerned people of BB will have access to use it for further policy analyses. B B is going to commence web based e-tendering system, which covers announcement of tender, distribution of schedules, bidding etc., to ensure simplicity and transparency of tendering process.

These are only a few examples of how fast the B B is progressing in the process of digitisation of its activities. In addition, it is also taking other banks and government agencies on board to ensure speedy, credible, user-friendly financial services to all.

Moreover, B B has been encouraging green engineering by installing solar panels on its own premise and providing re-financing windows to support speedy development of solar energy, biogas and effluent treatment plants all around the country. And in all these activities the role of green engineers will be vital.

Challenges
The major challenges for Bangladesh are poverty reduction and sustainable development, but neither of these is possible without a strong science and technology base underpinned by excellence in education at all levels and a well-trained work force in ICT. There needs to be infrastructural development and technology transfer throughout the country to disseminate knowledge to even remote areas of the country.

However, the government has taken initiatives to promote ICT among all spheres of people, including the hard-to-reach areas; tax and duty cut on computers, promoting ISP services etc.

A broadband infrastructure is needed with access for all Bangladeshis from their homes, work places, schools and tele-centres with Wimax and 3G network. We also need a digitally literate population and workforce, digital business development, and a legal framework that assures freedom of expression while protecting the rights of creators and innovators towards building an indigenous knowledge and technological base.

At the beginning, we must concentrate on the development of infrastructure in terms of hardware, software and manpower. Skilled manpower from local market must be available to keep the system running without depending on foreign “experts.” Sustainability of digital Bangladesh depends on our enhanced ability to maintain, repair and expand once the system is installed.

In order to manage a sustainable digitised Bangladesh, we need a long-term plan to produce adequate number of scientists, computer and communication engineers, software engineers; technology management experts etc., for further development of our ICT sector and keeping pace with the technological advancement in the developed world.

Otherwise, digital Bangladesh would be highly vulnerable and dependent on foreign manufacturers and experts. Simultaneously, we must encourage our young engineers to move towards utilisation of less or no fossil fuels. This green engineering will have to be one of the strategic components of digital Bangladesh.

Certainly, we will opt for a technology-based economy. But that economy must also be socially responsive to the needs of the disadvantaged. In other words, we pledge to build a more inclusive digital Bangladesh where engineers too will play the desired strategic role.

The vision is to see B B paperless within the shortest possible time — all correspondence (both internal and external) will be online — and achieve higher productivity across all economic sectors including agriculture and SME through use of ICTs. Steps have been taken already to bring overall functions and activities of B B under automation. Its supervisory functions have been further strengthened applying advanced banking techniques with innovative technology.

It can be noted that technology-driven business models followed by the banks and financial intuitions ensure better and faster services to the clients. A recent study of B B revealed that banks that adopt technology are more profitable and reduce risks as they gain maturity in offering such services.

B B has already engaged banks in major programs of upgrading their IT platforms, with ample processing powers and online connectivity, to enable efficient data management, processing and analyses in banks for their own risk management purposes and for reporting to BB.

A holistic approach needs to be taken by all the stakeholders to reach the ICT facilities to the doorstep of the common people. Engineers could be pioneers in this regard, innovating new applications of ICT, and thus move the nation towards digital Bangladesh.

Simultaneously, they should also be responsive to the challenges of climate change, and hence move towards green engineering. B B is well aware of its responsibility in promoting green finance for greener Bangladesh. I am sure engineers too will play their desired role in this fight for a greener energy based digital Bangladesh.

[ on the basis of the Governor's keynote speech in the national conference of Bangladesh Engineers' Association on January 3.]

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Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism GM Qader yesterday said the government is preparing two separate master plans for Cox’s Bazar and Kuakata to develop them as highly attractive tourist spots of global standards.

Qader said this wile presiding over an inter-ministerial meeting to review the progress of preparing master plans for the two locations to build those as global standard tourist destinations. He asked the authorities concerned to quickly formulate the plans.

He said the government has decided to set up Cox’s Bazar Development Authority and upgrade Kuakata into a municipality as part of its plan to refurbish the locations with all tourist facilities.

The minister asked the authorities that care should be taken in preparing the plans to add new infrastructures and other facilities to both the spots without disturbing the natural beauty and local resources.

They should add more natural beauty in those areas, promote good communication network, hotels, restaurants and other entertainment facilities and sports outlets, including venues for international cricket.

Modern shopping malls and security arrangements should be at the centre of such plans, he said, adding that the government is giving top priority to development of tourism and the master plans are being prepared accordingly.

Acting secretary of the ministry Shafique Al-Mehdi, Forest and Environment Ministry Secretary Dr Mihir Kanty Majumder, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation Chairman M Hemayet Uddin Talukder attended the meeting.

Representatives of the ministry of public works and housing, ministry of land, communications, cultural affairs, urban development authority, district administration of Cox’s Bazar and Patuakhali and project directors of both the plans were present.

Saint Martin .

St. Martin’s, a small continental island in the Bay of Bengal, is located on the southern most tip of Bangladesh separated from the mainland by a channel which is about 9 km wide. St. Martin’s island is endowed with vast marine and land resources having great biodiversity significance. The island is a good example of co-occurrence of corals, algae, seaweeds, grasses and mangroves.

A total of 234 species of fish have been found in the coastal water of St. Martin’s Island, of which 16 are fresh water species. Among the fish species, 89 are coral associated. The most abundant coral or reef associated fish are Damsel, Parrot, Surgeon, Groupers, Snappers, Emperors and Butterfly fish. The mollusc on the St. Martin’s is the largest and most beautiful in Bangladesh. 186 species of mollusc & oyster, 7 species of crab, 9 species of echinoderms, 4 species of sea urchin, 1 species of sea cucumber & some brittle stars have been found here. A number of colourful nudibranch and bryozoans were reported in adjacent area of the island.

There are nearly 8,000 people on this small island of 12 sq. km. area. In the tourist season (November-February) around 3,000 people visit this island daily, which is beyond the holding capacity of this small marine island.

Besides this, there is regular big ferry services and engine boat, used for transportation of tourists, to the island. For this reason, a huge amount of crude oil, plastic and other non-biodegradable waste are discharged in the water adjacent to the island. In addition huge amounts of untreated market and domestic wastes, which include sewage matters (only 5% of the local people have sanitary latrine facilities) from the local people and tourists, are discharged into the adjacent coastal water. Thus the quality of coastal water is degrading gradually.

The government should take necessary steps to save this coral island. Beside this, it also necessary to take initiatives for developing eco-friendly tourism in the Island.

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The parliament is expected to frame the Fish and Poultry Feed Act and the Hatchery Act to regulate fish and animal feed production, prevent contamination and deal with other compliance issues.

The laws will cover the country’s score of feed producers and importers, who very often sell sub-standard and adulterated fish and animal feeds, exposing millions of people to deadly diseases like cancer, said Md Sharful Alam, secretary of Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock at a workshop in Dhaka.

“To stop the toxic antibiotics from getting into the food chains, and control the fish and animal feed manufacturering, registration is a must,” Muhammed Shamsul Kibria said in his keynote paper in the workshop on ‘Compliance with International Food Safety Requirements: Lessons from Thai Experience’.

Farms, feed manufacturing factories including landing/auction centres, depots, processing and export units should be registered and brought under a licensing system, Mr Kibria said.

Presently, the local feed manufacturers and suppliers are not registered and they require no licence. Due to lack of law, some of them get away with selling poor quality feed, chemicals and antibiotics in the market.

Farmers also use the contaminated feed and antibiotics to fatten domestic animals and in shrimp farming in ponds or low-lying lands, he said. Processing plants might introduce a self-checking method before collection and export of raw materials, or send those for further testing, he added.

He also described the curative and preventive measures taken by the Thai government, and?scopes and potential areas of collaboration between the two countries in this regard.

The speakers in the workshop recommended import of feed and feed ingredients, free from nitrofuran, chloramphenicol etc, from abroad and test those before marketing or use for producing feed.

All feed and feed ingredients should be sealed and packed with labels mentioning date of manufacturing, date of expiry, composition list and other necessary information, they added.

Paiboon Ponsuwanna, chairman of Thai National Shippers’ Council, Abdul Khaleq, director general of Department of Fisheries, Musa Meah, president of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association, among others, spoke on the occasion.

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Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from?genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by?genetic engineering, using a process of either?Cisgenesis or?Transgenesis.

These techniques are much more precise than?mutagenesis?(mutation breeding) where an organism is exposed to radiation or chemicals to create a non-specific but stable change.

GM foods were first put on the market in the early 1990s. Typically, genetically modified foods are?transgenic plant products:?soybean,?corn, canola, and cotton seed oil.

Critics have objected to GM foods on several grounds, including perceived safety issues,^[5] ecological concerns, and?economic concerns raised by the fact that these organisms are subject to?intellectual property law.

Genetically modified eggplant and potato crops are being trialled in Bangladesh, despite protests from some quarters.

Agricultural scientists in Bangladesh are undertaking research to develop genetically modified (GM) varieties of eggplants and potatoes, the country’s Daily Star reported.

Scientists say the move to introduce GM crops will save farmers the cost of insecticides and fungicides, boost production and enable consumers to enjoy vegetables free of pesticides.

The transgenic eggplant varieties, known as ‘Bt’ eggplants, are on trial in seven confined fields in agricultural research stations. The GM potatoes, known as ‘Rb’ potatoes are also on trial in two confined fields.

Bt eggplant crops enjoyed positive field trials, and it is expected the first GM eggplant seeds could be given to farmers within the next three years, subject to Bangladesh government approval.

“We got good results in the confined field trials last year and found 85-95 per cent of eggplants were infestation-free,” said Dr Md Al-Amin, head of biotechnology at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI).

If the variety can be proved safe for human consumption and harmless to the environment, it will be the first GM crop in Bangladesh.

Environmental activists oppose the move, however, arguing that genetically modified crops would not be safe for human consumption or the environment.

“When an insect cannot eat crops, how will it be safe for human consumption?” said Farida Akhter of Nayakrishi Andolon, a group of farmers who use ecologically sound methods.

“Above all, farmers will lose their right to preserve seeds,” she said.

Dr Al-Amin disagreed with Ms Akhter regarding the effects the modified produce would have on the human body.

“By the method we have used, there is no possibility of toxicity in humans,” said Dr Al-Amin.

“It requires a receptor to create a toxic effect on humans, but the human body does not have that receptor. Our findings show that it does not create any health hazard.”

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