DCCI President Asif Ibrahim
President
of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Asif Ibrahim on
Monday said the D-8 member states must strengthen their technological
and industrial cooperation to consolidate national economies and ensure
accelerated economic growth and development.“Creating employment opportunities are central to poverty reduction, and raising the standard of living, industrialisation and technological advancement can contribute significantly towards scaling it up,” he told the inaugural session of the seventh meeting of the working group on industrial cooperation at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
Asif said the D-8 member states can be benefited through transferring technology, collaborative industrialisation and cooperation in research and development in the industrial sector.
He said there is no doubt that agriculture and food security, transportation, energy and industries, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are major priority areas of cooperation among the D-8 countries.
“There’s no denying that trade is also of utmost importance. Unfortunately, the trade among member states is only 6 percent of the world trade which needs to be increased at least to 12 percent by 2012.”
Bangladesh is a member of a number of regional agreements where it is entitled to enjoy flexible rules of origin ranging from 30-35 percent value addition because it is at a preliminary stage of industrialisation as an LDC, Asif Ibrahim said.
“The value addition criteria should not be more than 35 percent for Bangladesh. In order to ratify the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), the D-8 countries may revise the rules of origin criteria to 35 percent value addition from the proposed 40 percent so that all the member countries can be benefited,” he added.
The DCCI chief said Bangladesh is a resilient economy and an attractive investment destination, even in the thick of a severe global economic downturn.
He mentioned that Goldman Sachs included Bangladesh in its list of “Next 11” countries (those most likely to become the world’s largest economies after the BRIC nations).
It is also one of JP Morgan’s ‘Frontier Five” economies where City Group has identified Bangladesh as one of 11 countries in terms Global Growth Generator (3G countries).
“We’re confident that Bangladesh is going to continue to achieve accelerated growth due to our dynamic private sector, strong economic fundamentals, strategic location and resilient people,” he said.
He said the total volume of trade among D-8 countries has doubled from US$35 billion in 2006 to US$70 billion to date. “But it’s not enough compared to the existing potentials.”
Industries Minister Dilip Barua addressed the inaugural session as the chief guest. Secretary General of the D-8 Secretariat Prof Widi Agoes Pratikto, State Minister for Industries Omar Faruk Chowdhury, Industries Secretary M Moinuddin Abdullah, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President AK Azad, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Dhaka Maj Gen (retd) Amjad Khan Chowdhury, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Asif Ibrahim and Bangladesh Chamber of Industries President Shamsur Rahman also spoke on the occasion.
Experts, entrepreneurs, business leaders and government officials are taking part in the meeting.
The Developing-8, comprising Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, seeks development cooperation among the member states.
The second D-8 industries ministers' meeting was held in Istanbul, Turkey from October 4-6 last year while the first round in Iran.
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন