Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) in cooperation with Trust Bank Limited and Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) organised a seminar on 'SMEs - a Catalyst of D-8 Economy' at a hotel in Dhaka to mark the D-8 Industries Ministers' conference.

One hundred fifty representatives from government officials, academics and private sector organisations from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey participated in the seminar.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua attended the seminar as chief guest. Asif Ibrahim, DCCI president presided over the seminar recently. Widi Agoes Pratikto, D-8 Secretary General and Shah Alam Sarwar, Managing Director and CEO of Trust Bank Ltd. were present as special guests.

Dr. Toufic Ahmad Choudhury, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) presented the keynote paper on 'Bangladesh perspective and scope of co-operation' portraying the present scenario of SMEs of the D-8 countries.

Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO of BUILD, made a presentation on 'Public-private dialogue for private sector development'.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/11th-Oct-12

Md Khurshid Alam has been promoted to General Manager of Bangladesh Bank (BB).

Before his new assignment, he was Deputy General Manager of SME and Special Programmes Department of the BB, said a press release Wednesday.

Alam joined the central bank as an assistant director in 1988.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/11th-Oct-12

Shahid Hossain was promoted to Additional Managing Director (AMD) of Southeast Bank Limited.

Prior to his new position, Shahid was the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) of the Bank, said a press release.

He joined the bank as Senior Vice President in 2003 and subsequently was promoted to Executive Vice President and Senior Executive Vice President in 2005 and 2008.

He started his banking career as a Probationary Officer at National Bank Limited in 1983.

He completed his MSS degree in Political Science from Dhaka University in 1980.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/11th-Oct-12

The World Bank (WB) Wednesday officially confirmed that an external panel comprising three eminent international experts to oversee probe into Padma Bridge graft allegation will arrive in Dhaka on October 14.

The external panel, headed by Luis Moreno Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will work closely with local graft watchdog, the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), WB said.

The panel was formed on October 5 in line with the measures agreed by the government during the WB’s $1.2 billion loan revival discussion held at Washington.

The multilateral lender pulled out of the project on June 29, alleging a “corruption conspiracy” surrounding the project, for which, it claimed, had “credible evidence.”

Other members of the project are: Timothy Tong, former commissioner of the Independent Commission against Corruption of Hong Kong and Richard Alderman, former director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

Dhaka office of the global lender said this would be an initial introductory visit, and the first in a series of regular visits aimed at assessing adequacy of the investigation into alleged corruption under the Padma Bridge project.

The panel will submit reports to the WB and also share its findings with the government of Bangladesh and other co-financiers of the project, the WB release said.

Earlier, visit of a WB delegation, scheduled on October 1, was postponed without showing any specific reason.

Later, government high-ups said they were informed by the lender that the meeting was deferred as the WB could not form the panel till then. In its board meeting on September 20, the World Bank Group formally decided to engage anew with the project subject to satisfactory implementation of agreed measures.

Apart from the formation of the panel of graft experts, the agreed measures also include creating a separate procurement arrangements for the $2.9 billion mega infrastructure project.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/11th-Oct-12

Neaz Ahmed, Managing Director of National Bank Limited, speaks at a training course on 'Risk Management and Relevant Reporting and Capital Management' at the Bank’s training institute in Dhaka recently.

A three-day training course on 'Risk Management and Relevant Reporting and Capital Management (RMRRCM)' was held at the National Bank Training Institute in Dhaka recently.

National Bank Training Institute and Risk Management Unit of the Bank organised the course for the executives and officers of the bank, said a press release.

Some 34 executives and officers from head office and branches of the Bank participated in the training course.

Neaz Ahmed, Managing Director of the Bank inaugurated the course as chief guest.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/11th-Oct-12