Business Desk
BUILD Chairperson Abul Kasem Khan paid a courtesy call on Planning Minister MA Mannan, at the minister’s office in the capital on Tuesday.
Planning Minister MA Mannan said that we need to step ahead to ensure more private sector engagement in public-private partnership for coordinated development in the country.
Stressing on the importance of enabling business environment in Bangladesh, he stated that the government will extend all forms of logistical support to make the private sector vibrant. In this line, he appreciated the formation of the Logistics and Infrastructure Working Committee of BUILD. It is commendable that BUILD already has a well-functioning public-private dialogue (PPD) model. He expressed hope that BUILD with its Working Committees will continue to independently contribute to the policy making process of the government.
BUILD Chairperson Abul Kasem Khan briefly highlighted major activities of the organization and appreciated that the government has taken a number of fiscal, monetary and micro-financial measures to combat COVID-19. The pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the entire global economy, which continues to exert downward economic pressures on the countries across the world. With timely action, the government not only delivered economic relief to many but also injected confidence into businesses and the economy, he said.
Further initiatives to address employment and revive domestic demand would be critical to set the economy back on a robust growth pathway. Otherwise the target of the Perspective Plan for manufacturing growth may be difficult to achieve, he added.
He urged the government to Intensify South-South cooperation, especially through regional agreements and create new avenues for markets for global trade expansion. He requested the government to reduce the supply divide and accelerate development of regional value chains as key policy stepping-stones for a better post-COVID recovery process.
Declaring 2021-2031 as the Infrastructure Decade for accelerated development of Bangladesh, he further suggested devising a National Logistic Infrastructure Master Plan (NLIMP) which should be adopted to improve the national logistics and infrastructure system.
The special economic zones (SEZ) must be utilized in a strategic manner to ensure broad and sustainable results for the national economy. As economic frontiers, the SEZs should link up with local businesses in the vicinity and act as growth centers. The broad-based growth enabled by SEZs would facilitate revenue collection, job creation and the industrialization of Bangladesh, he added. Ferdaus Ara Begum, CEO, BUILD informed about one of the on-going activities of BUILD and International Trade Centre(ITC)-She Trade Program in collaboration with Central Procurement Technical Unit(CPTU) for designing a public procurement road map more gender responsive.
A study is conducted on the barriers of women entrepreneurs in public procurement, which included consultation with relevant policy makers both from public and private sector. In order to formulate a gender-responsive procurement roadmap, it is a need for consultation with Ministry of Planning. In this respect Hon’ble Minister agreed that from his Ministry necessary support will be extended for this research.
