Atiur Rahman, central bank governor, receives the Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque at a ceremony in Kolkata yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman has received the prestigious Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque 2011 at a ceremony in Kolkata, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.

The award was in recognition of his contribution to international cooperation towards human progress.

Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly, the chairperson of West Bengal Human Rights Commission, presented the award at the 228th annual general meeting of The Asiatic Society at the society's Vidyasagar Hall.

“I accept with deep gratitude and utter humility the Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque for 2011 awarded to me by the Asiatic Society in appreciation of my humble efforts towards advancement of human progress through international cooperation,” Rahman said.

“It is a deeply moving experience to see my name added to the elite company of the very distinguished luminaries awarded with this Gold Plaque in the preceding years,” Rahman said in his speech.

“Of further significance to me is that the award bears the name of late Indira Gandhi,” he said.

“Indira Gandhi was instrumental in helping hasten victory in Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war by letting Indian soldiers shed their blood side by side with our valiant freedom fighters.”

“I take this opportunity to pay homage to her soul.”

“Far more than a personal reward and recognition, I see this prestigious award as a recognition and reaffirmation of our high priority for human progress through poverty eradication and social empowerment of the disadvantaged groups in our communities, opening up advancement opportunities equitably for all.”

“I have consistently been driven by a strong urge of deepening civil society activism for human welfare through people-to-people contact and cooperation.”

“In my current assignment as central bank governor, as also in my earlier roles as commercial bank board member/chairman, I have persistently acted to steer traditional urban elite based banking away towards broader, deeper financial inclusion of the underserved poor,” Rahman added.

Prof Pallab Sengupta, president of Asiatic Society, and Prof Mihir Kumar Chakrabarti, general secretary, were also present.

The award was introduced in 1985. The award's past recipients include ex-Swedish premier Olof Palme (1985), Dr DS Kothari (1986), Nobel Laureates Mother Teresa (1987), ex -Secretary General of the United Nations Dr Javier Perez de Cuellar (1988), Dr Nelson Mandela (1989), Rev Desmond Tutu (1990), Aruna Asaf Ali (1992), Yasser Arafat (1993), Prof Amartya Sen (1994) and Aung San Suu Kyi (1995).

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 8th May 2012

Social Islami Bank Limited inaugurated Off-Shore Banking unit of the Bank at a simple ceremony at Banani in the city recently The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank Mr. Md. Anisul Hoque was present in the programme as the chief guest and inaugurated the OBU. The Managing Director of the Bank Mr. Muhammed Ali also seen.

Social Islami Bank Limited inaugurated Off-Shore Banking unit of the Bank at a simple ceremony at Banani in the city recently The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank Mr. Md. Anisul Hoque was present in the programme as the chief guest and inaugurated the OBU.

He said, through this unit SIBL would be able to serve the non-resident Bangladeshi nationals in efficient manner and attract foreign investment as well which shall benefit the economy of the country.

The Managing Director of the Bank Mr. Muhammed Ali, who was also present at the inauguration of the OBU, said that inauguration of OBU shall add value to SIBL's service and the unit shall be focused to cater the needs of foreign investors in Bangladesh and shall also play the role like a foreign banking unit in addressing needs of local banks in International trade related business. He urged that the employees of SIBL must be equipped with adequate knowledge so that they can render the best possible services to its customers.

Deputy Managing Directors Mr. AMM Farhad, Mr. Mohammad Mohashin Miah, Principal of SIBL Training Indtitute Mr. Abu Sadeq Md. Sohel, Manager of Banani Branch Mr.Niamat Uddin Ahmed and valued clients of the branch were present among others.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said the US does not want to see any government action that might undermine the functioning of Grameen Bank.  “Undermining the bank by any government is unexpected…We don’t want to see any action, which undermines the functioning of Grameen Bank,” she told a function titled ‘A Conversation with Bangladesh’ at International School Dhaka (ISD) in the city prior to her departure for Kolkata.

Referring to the contributions of the Bank towards poverty alleviation, the US Secretary of State said the Grameen Bank is playing an instrumental role in the country where millions of poor women are depending on it.

She said Bangladesh has improved immensely in education and the country’s civil society is continuously playing an important role in promoting democracy, which is a very strong signal.

About the persisting problem in the RMG sector, Hillary said Bangladesh’s failure to probe the recently killed garment labour leader would send a wrong signal to foreign buyers.  “The problems of RMG have to be resolved… the government, RMG businessmen and workers all have to work together to resolve the problems,” she said.

Reply to question about regional problems, the US Secretary said the countries in the South Asia region must find a way of resolving their problems. “The countries must be more practical and realistic… all countries must be more practical to boost their trade and businesses.”

About the US government support to Bangladesh, she said more students from Bangladesh are getting opportunity to study in the US and the US government keen to help Bangladeshi people.

“We’re investing in sectors like health, agriculture, climate change and economic activities in Bangladesh.”
She said the US government is trying to develop clean cook-stoves to cut household black carbon to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change.

About the potential of the country due to its strategic location, Hillary said Bangladesh has an opportunity to play an important role in the region. “You (Bangladesh) are on right track, but you know the problems you face.”

She urged the young leaders to come forward to bring about a positive change across the globe. “The young can change the world… I see the potential of young here.”

Hillary stressed establishing a strong network of social media to cut corruption and ensure human rights in Bangladesh.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012

Prof. Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, Chairman of Islami Bank, speaks at a day-long conference in Dhaka.

Islami Bank Banglad- esh Limited (IBBL) organised a day-long conference of field officers of rural development scheme (RDS) of the Bank at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh.

Prof. Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, chairman of the Bank attended the conference as chief guest, said a press release received Sunday.

Speaking there, Abduz Zaher said the Bank introduced the RDS to make the country financially strong.

Vice chairman of the Bank Eng. Mustafa Anwar inaugurated the conference while managing director Mohammad Abdul Mannan presided over.

Eng. Md. Eskander Ali Khan, chairman, executive committee and Md. Shahidul Islam, Chairm- an, Audit Committe were present as special guests.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was on Saturday elected as Chair of the ADB’s Board of Governors and the country will host the 46th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in New Delhi next year.

“India is very happy to accept the chair,” Mukherjee said at the closing business session of the 45th annual meeting of the ADB board of governors.

Mukherjee said while India was the founding member of the ADB in 1966, its lending operations in India began two decades later.

“The 25 years of partnership has been an exciting and challenging journey,” he said, adding that he was “honoured”.

As a major multilateral lending organisation, the Manila-headquartered ADB has 67 members, of which 48 are from Asia. The US and Japan are the largest shareholders of the ban while India is the fifth largest.

“ADB’s three-year country operations business plan for India for 2012 - 2014 will provide lending assistance of USD 6.25 billion to support inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth,” Secretary ADB Robert Dawson told PTI.

The lending support will go to key areas like transport, energy, urban development, agriculture natural resource management, finance and education.

Inviting ADB members to the next annual meeting to be held in New Delhi, Mukherjee said the Philippines, host of the 45th conference, has set very high standards of hospitality and efficiency.

“Our hosts here in the Philippines have set very high standards. While we can safely promise you much warmer, dare I say slightly hotter, weather, we shall endeavour to match the Philippines standards of hospitality and efficiency”.

He said it is an honour for India to host the next annual meeting and chair the deliberations in “our race to the shared vision for the future, a world where the lives of hundreds of millions of poor people are transformed and there is freedom from poverty, disease, illiteracy, and gender inequality’”.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012