Rejaul Karim Byron

Learn from the greats, and expose yourself to better work, it is often advised. So, when implementing big, state-of-the-art projects, it is prudent to go abroad and get first-hand experience of how things are done.

India is set to start in January the trial run for transporting goods between its northeastern states and other parts using Bangladesh’s Chattogram and Mongla ports.

India wants three more transshipment points in Bangladesh for transporting goods to its north-eastern states, according to the agenda of a bilateral meeting that begins in Dhaka today.

The government is likely to go slow in increasing the size of the national budget for next fiscal year owing to the sluggish pace of revenue collection.

China will sign agreements by next June to provide $2.13 billion in loans for two more projects, including one on the construction of the Dhaka-Ashulia elevated expressway.

Bangladesh Bank may cap the interest rates on industrial and working capital loans on January 1 as the government moved to bring down the lending rates to single digits to give a much-needed boost to job creation and private investment.

Amid the soaring cost of agricultural labour, the government is going to launch a project worth Tk 415 crore to give subsidy to the farmers for buying agricultural machinery so that they can harvest crops at a reduced cost.

Dhaka and Delhi signed seven MoUs during the prime minister’s visit to India early last month. Some of those raised questions in the public mind. Rejaul Karim Byron and Porimol Palma have recently sat with Dr Mashiur Rahman, prime minister’s adviser on economic affairs, to learn the details.

India has been working strategically to connect its north-eastern region with the rest of the country through Bangladesh since Dhaka agreed to give New Delhi the privilege nine years back.

The Bangladesh-China joint working group will sit for its first meeting next week, incorporating a new agenda centring Beijing’s interest in investment and trade, to devise ways for expediting implementation of China-funded projects.

Japan has come up with more than two dozen proposals, including tax benefits and a cut in motorcycle registration fee, as it looks to boost its investment in Bangladesh.

Japan has sought competitive incentives and long-term policies to ensure the viability of businesses of its investors who are eyeing expansion in Bangladesh.

A $19 million taka-denominated bond is set to make its debut on the London Stock Exchange today, in a landmark moment for the country.

The estimated cost of constructing a third terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has been increased by 40 percent. It is now a Tk-20,598 crore project.

The government is set to take up another project involving Tk 3,449 crore to enhance the security of the country’s first nuclear power plant in Rooppur.

As recently as five years ago, Sobhan Ali Howlader, a native of Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali district, would barely make ends meet by catching fish at the nearby Andharmanik river.

People’s wait for the Padma bridge is going to get longer as the authorities now seek to extend the deadline for one and a half years.

A $1 billion taka-linked bond is set to be floated on the London Stock Exchange on November 11 as the government looks to mobilise the hordes of expatriate Bangladeshis the world over towards nation building and also draw in foreign investors.

As many as 59.57 percent of the businesses in a recent government survey complained of market imperfection as the prime obstacle for them to thrive.

A project by the health ministry to establish a national institute for laboratory medicine, that was approved in 2010 with a three-year deadline, will be up for approval for a fifth time extension at today’s meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).