PM invites Kuwaiti entrepreneurs to invest more in BD
BSS, Kuwait City

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the Kuwaiti chamber leaders to invest more in Bangladesh, taking advantage of the "lucrative" trade incentive package being offered by the present government.
"I invite all of you to come forward with investments in Bangladesh, which would be a lucrative place for you to assist in further strengthening our country's relations," she said while addressing a luncheon hosted in her honour by Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) at the Kuwait Chamber House here.
Sheikh Hasina also assured the Kuwaiti business communities of providing all possible assistance and cooperation in the process of their investment in Bangladesh.
Expressing her firm confidence, Sheikh Hasina said with the cooperation of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce in the fields of trade, commerce and investment, both Bangladesh and Kuwait would be mutually benefited. Both Bangladesh and Kuwait are bound by brotherly ties based on common faith, culture and traditions, she said.
The Bangladesh Premiere also said that the two countries' special relations have been consolidated by the enviable friendship enjoyed by the great rulers of the State of Kuwait and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman since Bangladesh's Independence in 1971.
Mentioning that Kuwait has now established itself as a regional economic hub, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh wants to closely engage itself with this gulf state for a more meaningful cooperation in the days to come.
About the bilateral trades between the two countries, she said despite having ample scope to diversify and increase two-way businesses, the present balance of trade is very much in favour of Kuwait.
She mentioned that Bangladesh's exports to Kuwait from 2007 to 2008 stood at a mere US dollar 9.69 million while the corresponding import figure was many times more.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh and Kuwait need to work together to identify areas of cooperation to harness the existing potentials. Kuwait can import from Bangladesh high quality garments, ceramics and pharmaceuticals, which have been established as popular items in the developed world, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the Arab state can also import other items like finished leather and leather products, furniture, handicrafts, and particularly jute and jute goods from Bangladesh as the world is now increasingly conscious about the environment.
In this respect, the Prime Minister explained the present government's liberal fiscal policies including the Tax Holiday, avoidance of Double Taxation, concessionary duty on imported machinery, remittance of royalty, permissible cent percent Foreign Equity and unrestricted exit policy.
Besides, Sheikh Hasina said, huge domestic market of 150 million people, abundant skilled labour, presence of homegrown entrepreneurs, supportive legal regime, and above all, commitment of the government, are added attractions for foreign investors in Bangladesh.
Pointing to some attractive sectors like power and energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, textiles, ICT, leather, furniture and agro-based industries, she said the Kuwaiti entrepreneurs can easily invest in these areas.
Earlier, Chairman of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industries Ali Mohammed Thunayan Al Ganim gave the address of welcome. Business leaders as well as the Kuwaiti private sector entrepreneurs attended the meeting.
Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Eng Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, State Minister for Forests and Environment Dr Hasan Mahmud, Ambassador At Large M Ziauddin, Bangladesh Ambassador in Kuwait Shahid Reza, Principal Secretary M A Karim and Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad, among others, were present on the occasion.

 Canadian trade team to visit BD
BSS, Dhaka

An eight-member Canadian trade delegation will visit Bangladesh from February 13 to 17 to promote the export of Canadian agricultural products to Bangladesh.
The team comprising members of the Ministry of Agriculture of the government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Trade & Export Partnership (STEP) is expected to meet with senior government officials and members of the Bangladesh business community, a press release said here on Monday.
It will also hold seminars on Canadian agricultural products in Dhaka and Chittagong. Canada is a global leader in the production and export of many agricultural products, including wheat, peas, lentils, chickpeas, mustard seed and canola, and Saskatchewan is the country's largest producer of these products. Saskatchewan, which has 53% of Canada's arable land, produces approximately 60% of Canada's wheat (winter wheat, spring wheat and durum) and 44% of Canada's canola. Canada exported a record Taka 3900 crore food and other agricultural products to Bangladesh in the first 11 months of 2009.
The objective of the current mission is to develop opportunities in agri-food products, meet local agri commodity companies and promote Canada's pulse producers and processors as reliable sources of quality pulses, the release said. STEP is a non-profit, membership- based organization designed to promote the growth of Saskatchewan's export industry. It assists provincial businesses to realize global marketing opportunities through specially-tailored services and programs.

  Bestway Bazar gets best pavilion prize at DITF
TBT Economy Desk

Bestway Bazar was selected the best pavilion in the Dhaka International Trade Fair2010, says a press release.
Commerce Minister Md Faruk Khan handed over the crest for the best pavilion to Md. Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of Bestway Group, at the closing ceremony of the fair on Sunday. FBCCI president Annisul Huq, acting commerce secretary Golam Hossain and vice president of EPB Md.Sahabullah were also present on the occasion.

  6 foreign firms to manufacture mobile set, laptop in BD
BSS, Dhaka

Six foreign companies have expressed their interests in manufacturing mobile set and laptop with the joint venture of state owned Bangladesh Telephone Shilpa Sangstha (Teshish).
Managing director of Teshish Ismail Hossain told BSS that the letters of their expression of interest were sent to head of the Electric and Electronic Department of BUET for scrutiny.
The government floated international tender in December 2009 inviting the entrepreneurs as the Ministry of Post of Telecommunications has taken initiative to make the Teshish full operative after long time.
For the first time the government has undertaken the initiative for a joint venture of the state owned Teshish with foreign company to produce mobile set and laptop. The MD did not disclose name of any foreign bidder saying it may create confusion before completion of the scrutiny. However, he firmly hoped that mobile set and laptop will come to market by April next.
Secretary of Teshish Osman Gani said the mobile will be produced with local technology and every set of mobile will be Taka 2,000 and will have every latest facilities including double SIM system. Referring to the experts' opinion, he said country's total mobile phone users will be over eight crore by next two years. Teshish will produce four lakh sets a year preliminarily.
He said Teshish was completely inoperative for the last 12 years and 525 officials and employees were given salaries without any work. The manpower of the company was reduced to 260 in July 2007.
After the present government came to power, Post and Telecommuni-cations ministers Raziuddin Razu asked the officials to take measures for revival of the Teshish.
In the offer, the investors accepted the minister's proposed for keeping the price of every laptop within the range of Taka 10,000 to 12,000, Ismail Hossain said.

  Toyota faces fresh questions over recall response
AFP, Tokyo

Toyota's handling of a dangerous gas pedal defect came under fresh scrutiny Monday after the group said it had fixed the flaw for some cars in Europe last year but initially decided against a global recall.
Toyota's woes are set to deepen this week when the world's largest auto maker is expected to pull as many as 300,000 Prius hybrid vehicles because of a separate issue with the braking system. The brake trouble comes on top of recalls of more than eight million vehicles worldwide due to sticking accelerator pedals that have severely tarnished the Japanese giant's reputation for reliability.
The company, whose brand has long been synonymous with safety and quality, faces a class-action lawsuit on behalf of owners in the United States alleging that it hid problems that have led to the rash of recalls.
And Toyota's North America president, Yoshimi Inaba, is set to testify at a US congressional hearing on Wednesday as part of a wider probe by lawmakers.
Toyota has denied it was slow to respond to the unintended acceleration issue but faces new questions about its handling of the episode, after it emerged that the company acted on the problem in Europe about six months ago.
"We did fix this in August last year (in Europe) after first hearing about the issue at the end of 2008," said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco.
But it was initially thought that the problem only affected European right-hand drive vehicles, sold mainly in Britain and Ireland, he said.
The trouble was attributed to the car heater blowing hot air on the gas pedal, causing condensation to build up inside and result in sticking, but was not thought to occur in left-hand drive models, he said.

  Aktel Chairman now in Dhaka
TBT Economy Desk

Tan Sri Ghazzali Sheikh Abdul Khalid, Chairman of Axiata (Bangladesh) Limited, arrived in Dhaka on a three-day official visit, says a press release.
During his visit, Ghazzali will meet senior officials from Aktel. He will also meet some government high-ups.
Ghazzali has made his career as a diplomat since 1971 and became the Ambassador of Malaysia to the United States in March 1999. Before his appointment to Washington, D.C., he served as the deputy secretary-general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia. Over the years, his overseas appointments have included postings to Hong Kong, Germany, Austria, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and with the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations in New York, United States. Ghazzali, an Economics graduate o f University of La Trobe in Australia, has been a Director of Axiata (Bangladesh) Limited (former TM International Sdn Bhd) since March 24, 2008.

 Indian Railway revenue earnings up by 8.56pc
BSS, New Delhi

The approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April, 2009 - 31st January, 2010 were Rs. 70501.65 crore compared to Rs. 64943.32 cr during the same period of last year, registering a growth of 8.56 pc.
An official release today said the total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 44035.66 crore during 1st April 2009 - 31st January 2010 to Rs. 47763.29 crore of during 1st April 2008 - 31st January 2009, an increase of 8.47 percent. The total passenger revenue earnings during first ten months of the financial year 2009-10 were Rs. 19393.26cr compared to Rs. 18057.41cr during the same period of last year, registering an increase of 7.40pc. The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 1903.31 crore during April 2009-January 2010 compared to Rs. 1666.54 crore during the same period of last year, an increase of 14.21 per cent, it said.
The approximate numbers of passengers booked during April 2009-January 2010 were 6188.78 million compared to 5917.13 million during the same period of last year, showing an increase of 4.59 percent.
In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the numbers of passengers booked during April 2009-January 2010 were 3210.93 million and 2977.85 million compared to 3164.05 million and 2501.45 million during the same period of last year, an increase of 1.48 percent and 8.16 percent respectively, the release said.

  Asian stocks mostly down on European debt woes
AFP, Hong Kong

Concerns over Europe's debt woes continued to weigh on most Asian markets Monday while weaker-than-expected US jobs data also led to fears over the pace of recovery in the world's biggest economy.
The euro was off last week's eight-month lows in Asian trade but was still being sold in favour of the dollar as European fiscal problems continue to burden dealers.
Fears have grown that debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal may be unable to restore stability to their public finances, having spent heavily to combat recession during the global meltdown.
"The market's biggest concern is the European fiscal situation, and this problem won't be solved any time soon," Nikko Cordial senior strategist Tsuyoshi Kawata told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro stood at 1.3626 dollars in Tokyo afternoon trade, after sliding to as low as 1.3586 in New York late Friday. The euro dropped to 121.65 yen from 122.01. The dollar edged up to 89.32 yen from 89.20.
Dealers in Asia were unimpressed by remarks from eurozone finance officials at G7 talks in Canada on Greece's efforts to cut its public debt of more than 294 billion euros (412 billion dollars).

  Oil prices stay below $72
AFP, London

Oil prices rose on Monday after a massive selloff last week triggered by weak US jobs data and debt woes in the eurozone, traders said. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, climbed 40 cents to 71.59 dollars a barrel at 1145 GMT. Brent North Sea crude for March gained 39 cents to 69.98 dollars a barrel. "What we're seeing is a technical rebound. Investors are taking the opportunity to buy into the market after the massive selloff last week," said ANZ bank analyst Serene Lim. The markets digested news published Friday showing the US economy lost 20,000 jobs in January.
The non-farm payrolls data fell short of expectations for a gain of 15,000 jobs that would have been a clear sign of a turnaround in the troubled labour market and overall economy after a massive stimulus effort by the government.
The report showed the jobless rate eased to 9.7 percent from 10.0 percent in December, based on a household survey that appeared to contradict the payrolls data, but partly reflected how discouraged workers are leaving the labour force.
Sentiment was also hit by concerns that debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal may be unable to restore stability to their public finances after having spent heavily to combat recession.

  Indonesia sells $850m worth of Islamic bonds
AFP, Jakarta

Indonesia has sold more than 850 million dollars worth of Islamic bonds to domestic retail investors, three-times more than its target, officials said Monday.
The bonds, or sukuk, will mature in three years and pay 8.7 percent, finance ministry director for debt Rahmat Waluyanto told reporters. "The government earlier targeted to sell three trillion rupiah (318 million dollars) worth, as we're conservative. But we managed to sell 8.033 trillion rupiah," he added.
A total of 17,231 investors took part, he said. "About 9,055 investors bought up to 100 million rupiah worth of sukuk. The top investor bought 25 billion rupiah worth. It seems that our investors are quite prosperous," Waluyanto said.
As Islamic law forbids interest payments, sukuk generate returns by other means such as lease payments on securitised underlying assets.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country with around 90 percent of its 234 million people following the Islamic faith.
But it has lagged other countries such as Malaysia and Persian Gulf nations in developing an Islamic finance sector.
Islamic bonds comprise only about five percent of outstanding corporate bonds issued in Indonesia, whereas in Malaysia sukuk account for around a third or more. Jakarta sold its first sukuk in 2008 in a local-currency deal, and launched a 650-million-dollar global sukuk last year.
Waluyanto said the government planned to sell its second global sukuk later this year.

  JAL to stay with American Airlines
AFP, Tokyo

Japan Airlines, after declaring bankruptcy last month, appeared set on Monday to keep its current tie-up with American Airlines and end talks to defect to the world's biggest carrier Delta.
US giants American and Delta Air Lines have been competing to invest in ailing JAL, which filed for bankruptcy with 26 billion dollars of debt in one of Japan's biggest ever corporate failures.
Both airlines have circled JAL, hoping to benefit from a new US-Japan "open skies" deal to expand their reach in the lucrative Asia-Pacific aviation market. The market last year surpassed North America as the world's largest.
Japanese media had previously said JAL planned to switch to the SkyTeam alliance of Delta and ditch American's Oneworld alliance, which also includes British Airways and Qantas.
But newspapers including the Nikkei business daily, and NHK television, said JAL's new management and the government's Enterprise Turnaround Initiative of Japan believe the switch would be costly and risky.
The embattled carrier feared that a switch to Delta and SkyTeam would confuse its passengers, and may not win anti-trust immunity from US authorities because it would dominate the trans-Pacific market.
A JAL spokesman said: "Nothing is decided on this issue and the reports are based on speculation."