Mr. Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, ndc, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce inaugurating the new office of IBFB at Tejgaon, Dhaka. Mr. David Meale, Chargé d'affaires, Dhaka U.S. Embassy, Mr. Hafizur Rahman Khan, IBFB President (2nd left), Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, Founding President (right) are also seen.
Mr. Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, ndc, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce reiterated the firm commitment of the present Govt. to transform Bangladesh into a developed country by 2041. He said, the Govt. is striving to achieve the target where the entrepreneurs and private sector have a significant role to play as they are considered the driving wheel of an economy. The Commerce Secretary was speaking as the Chief Guest in the inauguration ceremony of IBFB’s new office held on Tuesday, 15 September 2015 at 04:00 pm at its present location at Tejgaon, Dhaka. He said, IBFB played vital role in the development of country’s business community and the organization should play more proactive role in promoting trade and commerce. Mr. David Meale, Chargé d'affaires, Dhaka U.S. Embassy and Mr. Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President, FBCCI were also present as Special Guests. Among others, Ms. Elizabeth Gourlay, Consul General and Mr. Daniel Keen, Commercial Officer of Dhaka U.S. Embassy, Mr. Suhel Ahmed Chowdhury, former Commerce Secretary, Dr. Md. Mozibur Rahman, former Tariff Commission Chairman, Mr. Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, former Managing Director of Pubali Bank etc. were also present.
In his speech as Special Guest, Mr. Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President of FBCCI said, Bangladesh lacks quality research on market and industry; as a result entrepreneurs cannot get adequate data and information on any particular sector. He invited IBFB to team up with FBCCI in carrying out research and advocacy on different issues for the betterment of business and economy. Mentioning different regulatory problems and hassles of successfully running a business in Bangladesh he said, in spite of global price reduction of petroleum the Govt. has not reduced the price of petroleum for which the industries and supply chain system are suffering. He opined, allowing overseas investments for Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, regional connectivity with SAARC countries like EU, political stability and sustainable democracy etc. certainly can give a strong boost up to Bangladesh economy.
Mr. David Meale, while speaking as Special Guest said, in this span of time IBFB has progressed a lot and established itself as a premier non-partisan business organization in Bangladesh. Appreciating IBFB’s ongoing advocacy effort with the Govt. to allow Bangladeshi entrepreneurs invest abroad he said, USA is always ready to welcome more and more investment from Bangladesh. He also mentioned that Bangladesh has great potentials to foster economic development and attract foreign direct investments, apart from RMG, in different sectors like LNG, LPG, pharmaceuticals, leather, ICT etc. He said, the export from Bangladesh to USA has increased and U.S. Govt. is working to enhance bilateral trade and commercial relationship.
