KALADAN NEWS

Date: Monday, May 03, 2004

Bangladesh Chamber Leaders Urged Revision of Account Trade Deal with Burma

Chittagong, May 3: Bangladesh Chamber leaders have urged the government to revise the account trade agreement with Burma saying the deal is not helpful to augment bilateral trade, according to the Daily Star of Bangladesh.

At a joint meeting held recently at the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the Chamber leaders urged the government to involve private sector in making such a deal to ensure proper implementation and achieve the goal, the paper further added.

Abdul Awal Mintoo, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), said the limit should be enhanced to at least $5 lakh (US$ 500 thousand) and the reconciliation time should be brought down to two months.

Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury, the President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCCI), proposed revision of the account trade agreement.

The CCCI president stressed the need for constructing a bridge on the river Karnaphuli and observed that without the development of internal communication it would be useless to develop road links with Burma.

Implementation of the agreement was slow because the private sector was not involved in the official talks when terms of references of the agreement were finalized, said Rashed Maksud Khan, Chairman of Bangladesh-Burma Business Promotion Council.

Presiding over the meeting, Mr. Khan said many flaws were detected in the deal in the implementation process. "Therefore, there should be private sector involvement in preparing such agreements," he recommended.

He also said the limit of US$ 1 lakh (100 thousand) only and reconciliation period of six months in case of letters of credit against account trade would be totally unworkable. "The volume of trade would be so low that it would not be feasible to do business profitably."

Referring to the market and population of Burma, the FBCCI chief further said there is huge potential of setting up industries in Bangladesh based on the raw materials available in Burma such as limestone and agro-products.

The FBCCI would take up the issues of account trade with the government and expedite the road link development projects, he further added.

Fazle RM Hasan, President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), said Burma entrepreneurs should be encouraged to invest in Bangladesh preferably in the field of gas and gas-based industry, cement, infrastructure and agro-based industries.

Towards Bangladesh’s east policy, the Roads and Highway Department (RHD) of Bangladesh had almost finalized the decision to build a bridge over the Karnaphuli River in Bangladesh. The decision has almost been finalized to give work order, without floating any tender, to a consortium of the Netherlands and Sweden for building the bridge at the cost of Taka 4390 million (US$ 74.14 million).

According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in March 2003, account trade will be settled in every six months. Burma may face a big problem for setting the accounts due to dollar crisis. # #

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