Bangladesh is taking proper care of its environmental obligations, Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman told a business forum in Hong Kong.

“Our country hosts some of the leading green garment factories in the world,” the adviser said while speaking as a distinguished speaker at a panel discussion on “Evolution of Global Trade and Supply Chain Finance” at Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong

Kong, according to a message received here yesterday.

Salman was leading a Bangladesh delegation to this reputed high level global financial forum.

The event hosted by AFF, a premier global financial forum, was held on the heels of global geopolitical consequential events and trade war being fought by the two largest economies of the world.

It discussed the rise of protectionism and apparent disregard for rules-based multilateral trading system, and how these uncertainties might disrupt the global supply chains, and possible responses that corporations must take to tackle these challenges.

Speaking on the panel discussion, Salman heavily emphasised on the challenges of technology—especially those posed by the fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence—and how the Bangladesh government plans to tackle them.

“Ten years ago, the government took the plan to make Bangladesh digital. Today we have fiber optic backbone all over the country...We are planning to teach kids coding. Unless we are prepared, we will not be able to capitalize on the technological advances,” he said.

Salman described in detail the steps that the Bangladesh government has taken to ensure growth.

“Ten years ago, our power generation was 3,000 MW, while today it is 24,000 MW...Our export has grown from $8 billion to $40 billion. How did this happen? It happened because there was an opportunity, and there was good governance. These two basic elements helped attaint the growth,” he said.

The session was moderated by Natalie Blyth, Group General Manager, Global Head of Global Trade and Receivables Finance, HSBC. The two other speakers on the panel were Dr William Fung, Group Chairman of Li & Fung Limited, and Bill Winters, CBE, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered PLC.

EA