Better business climate in Bangladesh?

By raheem

The Bangladesh government today launched the Better Business Forum (BBF). The body is going to be working directly under the Chief Advisor’s office with administrative support from the Board of Investments. The membership of the body is certainly impressive (see list below). In addition to the major sectors of the government, the group also consists of private representatives from the garments, telecommunication, technology, financial and agriculture sectors. The business community can now communicate their concerns directly at the top levels of government. Contrast this with what was happening only one and half years ago when a chosen few corrupt businessmen had access to the PMO’s office via bribery and backroom dealings! In this respect, there is now greater transparency.

It will be interesting to observe the effectiveness of the BBF. If successful, this could be the start of a renaissance in Bangladeshi entrepreneurial climate. For a long time our entrepreneurs succeeded in spite of the government. Now, perhaps they can achieve greater heights of success with a little help from the government.

• Bangladesh Better Business Forum
• Adviser for industries, communications, power, energy and mineral resources,
• Adviser for law, justice and parliamentary affairs
• Adviser for foreign affairs,
• The army chief,
• Cabinet secretary,
• Principal secretary to the chief adviser,
• Bangladesh Bank governor,
• Principal staff officer of the Armed Forces Division,
• Chairman of the National Board of Revenue,
• Finance secretary,
• Commerce secretary,
• Industries secretary,
• Law secretary,
• FBCCI president
• DCCI president
• CCCI president
• MCCI president,
• BGMEA president
• President of Bankers Association of Bangladesh,
• President of Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh,
• Renowned economist Prof Muzaffer Ahmad,
• Founder and chairperson of Brac Fazle Hasan Abed,
• BKMEA president,
• BTMA president,
• Former president of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters’ Association SyedMahmudul Huq,
• Managing Director of Renata Ltd Syed S Kaisar Kabir,
• Director of Kazi Farms Ltd Kazi Zisan Hasan,
• Group CEO of Rahimafrooz Bangladesh Ltd Samir Asaf,
• MD of Information Solution Ltd Syed Shapir Khasru,
• Chairman of AKTEL Bangladesh Salahuddin Kashem Khan,
• Chairperson of Bangladesh Tea Association Laila Rahman Kabir and
• Professors of economics at Dhaka University Dr Md Ali Taslim and Dr SM Asikuzzaman

Rhetoric and accountability in Bangladeshi politics

By raheem

Earlier today I decided to surf thru Sajeeb Wajed’s blog. He is the son of one of the ex-prime ministers of Bangladesh, who is currently in jail awaiting trial on corruption charges. Several of his posts mention human rights violations in Bangladesh under the current government.

So a little background here – Sajeeb’s mother, Sheikh Hasina was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001. During that time, the law and order situation in Bangladesh was one of the worst in recent times. It was also a time when Bangladesh started being ranked as one of the top ten most corrupt nations in the world by Transparency International. During PM Hasina’s tenure, it was suggested to her to set up an Anti Corruption Council. She brushed off the suggestion by saying that the “government had no plan to set up an independent anti-corruption commission at the moment, but it would consider it in future.”

In 1998 Bangladesh has suffered floods that affected 10 million people. Prime Minister Hasina decided that the best use of Bangladesh’s precious foreign reserves was to spend $900 million dollars to buy 4 Russian fighter jets. Interestingly, PM Hasina is in prison at the moment for improprieties in awarding that $900 milllion dollar contract. It is horrifying that at a time of such disaster the government had misplaced priorities.

So finally we have a government that in 9 short months has accomplished such spectacular reforms such as separating the judiciary from the executive; investigating and prosecuting immense corruption by politicians and businessman; has begun improving power generation; has begun reforming the government civil service; has initiated laws requiring election candidates to disclose their qualifications, etc. These are just a few of the good works that the current caretaker government has initiated. And in light of such achievements; it is quite disingenious for the corrupt politicians to cry about “human rights” violations. No human rights are being violated – the corrupt politicians are quite simply facing the consequences of their actions.