PM asks top US businesses to be partner of prosperity
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday met the top brasses of the leading American conglomerates urging them to be partner of the economic prosperity of Bangladesh.
Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) hosted the meeting over luncheon at Grand Hyatt in New York.
Addressing the top business leaders, the prime minister said Bangladesh and USA are time-tested friends based on common values and shared interests. The USA is Bangladeshs major economic, trade and development partner, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the relations between the two countries have been flourishing since her party took over in 2009 and till date, Bangladesh and the USA enjoy the best of relations.
She said, The establishment has been witnessing huge socio-economic transformations, and I want to share this with you.
CEO of UTC Associates Aziz Ahmed, vice president of Wall Mart Paul DYCK, chief development officer (CDO) of ORBIS, Government Relations and Communications Officer Tamer YOUNES, acting special representative of US Department of State Amb. ALice G Wells, senior director of SKYPOWER Maria VOROBIEVA, Ron Sikder of Powerpack, David Short of FEDEX, Jay PRYOR, Scott Price of Wall Mart International, director of Coca Cola MISSY Owens, manager of Chevron JJ, ONG, Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat of Karnafully Ship Builders, Saurabh ANAND of Denham Capital, Robert O Blake (JR) of MCLARTY Associates, Peter Bowe of Ellicott Dredges, Richard Brecher of Motorola Solution, John Campion of APR Energy, Ashwini Chhanpbra of Uber Technology were present, among others.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Information and Communication Technology Affairs Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed, Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin, PMs Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Principal Coordinator on SDG Affairs in PMO Abul Kalam Azad, president of FBCCI Shafiul Islam and leaders of trade bodies visiting with the prime minister joined the luncheon programme.
Annual Partnership Dialogue, signing of TICFA (Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum Agreement) and regular dialogues of these forums and dialogues on security, military and counter-terrorism eloquently indicate the height of relationship between the two countries.
Sheikh Hasina said the trade relation between the two countries is reflected by our increasing bilateral trade that totaled US $7 billion last year. But, the full potential for the expansion of this relationship remains to be explored. The prime ministers said quite a few stumbling blocks are preventing this potential from expanding to its desired level. These include, among other things, very high tariffs on Bangladeshi apparels.
While majority of LDCs enjoy duty free market access to the USA under different preferential schemes, Bangladesh along with Asian LDCs are facing increasingly stiff competition from those LDCs because of high tariffs, she said.
Even some developing countries enjoy the benefit of duty free access under AGOA, and this basic inequality and injustice need to be addressed to ensure a level playing field for all the competitors, the PM said.
Sheikh Hasina said all the developed countries except the USA, and even many developing countries have already granted duty free access to the LDCs as per commitments under Doha Round.
She said Bangladesh is celebrating its historic achievements in poverty alleviation, nutrition, maternal and child health, primary education, women empowerment etc. Since our government assumed office in 2009, Bangladeshs economy has demonstrated an incredible resilience to sustain an average GDP growth of 6.2 per cent despite internal and external challenges. The growth crossed 7 per cent mark during the last two years, she added.
The prime minister said per capita income increased by 80 per cent reaching US $1600; inflation reined in to 5.7 per cent; export earnings doubled to US $34 billion; foreign currency reserve increased to a staggering US $33 billion (equivalent to 8 months import) ; food and energy security achieved.
She said Bangladesh tops the south Asian Countries in gender parity and ranks 7th globally in political empowerment of women, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2016.
The prime minister said Bangladesh achieved Ba3 (Moodys) and BB - (Standard and Poors) with stable outlook for the 6th consecutive years. Stable real GDP growth and strong external balances have helped Bangladesh to achieve BB - rating with stable outlook from Fitch Ratings for the fourth time. These have been duly recognised by many others, including Goldman Sachs, Citi Group, JP Morgan etc, she added.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is now the 32nd largest economy of the world (based on PPP). Foreign Aid is less than 1.5 per cent of Bangladeshs annual GDP. Bangladesh is today a role model of economic development.
Bangladesh is also a progressive, secular democracy with a homogenous population of which 60 per cent is below the age of 40 and available at competitive wages, the prime minister said. Bangladesh has fast growing middle class consumers with increasing purchasing power, she added.
