Experts at a webinar on Saturday stressed improvement of competitiveness as a pre-requisite to overcome the transition of economic graduation and achieve the rank of Bangladesh within 100 in Doing business index,
They said the commercial disputes can be resolved through mediation if encouraged by the regulators.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) organized the webinar titled “Country Competitiveness of Bangladesh: Key Reforms in Doing Business”.
Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister Salman Fazlur Rahman, MP joined the webinar as the Chief Guest, while Secretary, Law and Justice Division, Md. Golam Sarwar joined as the Special Guest.
In his welcome remark, DCCI President Rizwan Rahman said commercial dispute resolution in Bangladesh usually takes 4 years in Bangladesh.
To improve the litigation system, various countries across the world made reforms like changes to the applicable civil procedure or enforcement rules, expanding court automation, electronic payment, automatic assignment of cases to judges, introducing specialized commercial court and expanding ADR framework, he added.
Rizwan Rahman also said that the improved competitiveness of Bangladesh will support our investment growth, export diversification and employment growth.
DCCI President informed that the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2019 ranked Bangladesh 105 and the report also highlighted profound competitiveness deficit in LDCs. He opined that concerned policy makers are to take necessary initiatives in association with private sector for improving country competitiveness.
Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister, Salman Fazlur Rahman, M P, said we have to use One Stop Service (OSS) efficiently. At present, 45 services are being offered through the OSS.
He also said that we should have policy reforms throughout the taxation system. For more revenue generation, he emphasized on widening tax net.
He thanked the NBR for adding 55 thousand new tax payers to the tax net last year and suggested that if the tax net be enlarged, tax rate can be slashed without keeping pressure on the existing tax payers.
Regarding Port efficiency, he mentioned that our ports are now more improved.
He said Bay terminal, Matarbari deep sea port, 2nd international airport in Cox’s Bazar, railway connectivity with Cox’s Bazar will be operational in the near future.
Moreover, ICD Kamalapur will be shifted to Gazipur under PPP initiative, he said. Another bridge over Meghna is also under consideration, he added.
Government plans to allocate a dedicated fund for research and development and skills development, said Salman F. Rahman. But, the entire judicial system needs major reforms, he said.
We have to resolve the disputes in a faster manner. Still the Mediation and Arbitration system are not being used widely in the country due to not having a standard civil litigation management timeframe, he also said.
Secretary, Law and Justice Division Md. Golam Sarwar said for improvement in the doing business index, government has done various reforms already.
We should rejuvenate the private sector with proper policy reforms in arbitration, contract enforcement and resolving insolvency related issues.
Barrister Md. Sameer Sattar presented the keynote paper.
He stressed on arbitration, mediation and litigation for speedy dispute resolution.
Stressing need for amending the Bankruptcy Act., he mentioned that, reducing the period of litigation related to commercial disputes between companies amendment of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) is badly needed and e-filing of cases, e-payment of court fees, pre-trial electronic case management and cost penalty can be introduced.
General Manager of Foreign Exchange Investment Department, Bangladesh Bank Jagannath Chandra Ghosh, Director of BIDA Jibon Krishna Saha Roy, Representative, JETRO Bangladesh Kazunori Yamada, Chairman and CEO of PRAN-RFL Group Ahsan Khan Chowdhury and Managing Director of Oryx Bio-Tech Limited David Bo also spoke on various pertinent issues and reforms on the occasion as the distinguished discussants.
The discussants highlighted that Bangladesh Bank has done various reforms like profit repatriation of foreign companies, foreign investors of sales proceeds of share up to BDT 10 million, introduction of international factoring in Bangladesh.
Abul Kasem Khan, Chairman, BUILD said that reforms should be fast track. Bangladesh has now a window of opportunities to avail, and if we miss it, someone will grab it then. He also stressed to use our dynamic labour force as an added advantage.