Nigeria invited to invest in power sector, import pharmaceuticals

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Thursday invited Nigeria to invest in various fields, especially in power sector, as the apex business body presented before a delegation from the African country huge investment opportunities here.

They conveyed the invitation to the Nigerian government through the visiting Nigerian delegation from Nigeria National Defense College when the team met FBCCI leaders here this (Thursday) noon.

During the meeting, the federative trade forum sought direct linkage with the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce for enhancing trade between the two countries as the bilateral trade position remained so poor.

The business leaders also requested Nigeria to import pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh as they believe Bangladesh produces quality medicines, which is proven on the world market.

Earlier, FBCCI First Vice-President Abul Kashem Ahmed and its directors welcomed the delegation led by Rear Admiral T J Lokoson.

The delegation expressed their interest about micro-credit system to adopt it in Nigeria for poverty alleviation as it became popular in Bangladesh.

They also expressed their desire to establish small cottage industries in Nigeria which might be a tool for their poverty alleviation and wanted to know about Bangladesh's experience.

"Our key objective behind this visit is micro-credit system and it's a research mission on it and other sectors," said the team leader, Rear Admiral T J Lokoson.He said they would make a presentation on the outcome of the visit and put forward a set of recommendations to the government.

"I hope, a high-powered delegation would visit again to discuss the specific issues related to both countries," he said.

The team members were well-briefed about the prospect of micro-credit system, how it works, what is the method of loan distribution and mechanism of recovery.The delegation wanted to know how Bangladesh is being affected by the current global financial flu.

Replying to their query, FBCCI General Secretary Mir Sahabuddin Ahmed said Bangladesh is slowly feeling the impacts of the global financial meltdown.He admitted that the volume of export is somewhat down and the flow of remittance has decreased due to the financial downswing.

Tata group to offer low-cost housing

India's Tata group plans to introduce cheap, low-cost housing for low-wage earners in Mumbai, where property prices are among the world's steepest.

The group, which last month unveiled the Nano, touted as the world's cheapest car, will start issuing applications this weekend to book houses that will be built in Boisar town, on the outskirt of India's financial hub.

The low-cost homes, part of the firm's project "Shubh Griha" (Blessed House), are priced between 390,000 to 670,000 rupees (7,900 to 13,500 dollars).

More than 1,200 houses will be provided in the first phase, the company said.Successful applicants will be chosen through a lottery system handled by the State Bank of India and will be able to move into their new homes in about two years, Tata officials said.

"There is a large percentage of the migrant population -- low-income people living in rented or company-provided accommodation -- who stay away from their families to earn a living in big cities," said Brotin Banerjee, chief executive of Tata Housing Development."

Our study shows that nearly 48 percent of the people in the lower segment are currently staying in rented accommodation," he told reporters late Wednesday.Migrants from other states constitute more than 50 percent of Mumbai's population but house prices continue to be out of reach for most people.

Oil price rises to 58 dollars

Oil prices soared close to six-month highs above 58 dollars a barrel on Thursday, extending sharp gains won a day earlier on hopes of a pick-up in energy demand amid fresh signs of economic recovery.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rallied to 58.05 dollars a barrel -- the highest level since November 13.Brent North Sea crude for June delivery advanced to 57.78 dollars -- also the highest point since mid-November.

"The positive sentiment on the exchanges was not driven by oil (supply and demand) fundamentals but rather by economic news following the release of a US labour report showing a slowdown in the number of US private-sector job losses for the month of April," analysts at JBC Energy Research said in a note.

Prices had already struck a five-month peak above 56 dollars on Wednesday as traders welcomed economic data from the United States, the world's biggest consumer of energy, that undershot analysts' forecasts.

Later Thursday, New York crude stood at 57.87 dollars per barrel, up 1.53 dollars from the close on Wednesday, while Brent oil was 1.37 dollars higher at 57.52.The US private sector shed 491,000 jobs in April, fewer than expected by analysts, a survey by payrolls firm ADP data showed Wednesday, signalling the prolonged recession may be easing.

The April figure was much lower than the 708,000 job cuts in March and the 645,000 expected by most analysts and the smallest private payrolls decline since October last year.

Wall Street saw solid gains Wednesday as a better-than-expected survey on US private-sector job losses helped ease jitters over upcoming results of "stress tests" on the banking system -- which are due later Thursday.

"Amid renewed confidence in the outlook for the global economy and in anticipation of the US bank stress test results expected later today, equity markets surged again yesterday, spilling over into the energy complex," said ODL Securities analyst Marius Paun.

Traders continued to digest news that crude stockpiles had risen by 600,000 barrels in the week to May 1, while analysts had forecast a much bigger jump of 2.1 million barrels.

Govt, entrepreneurs urged to set up mobile phone industry

Government and local entre-preneurs should come forward to provide necessary policy support to build up mobile phone handset manufacturing plants in Bangladesh as every year huge amount of money is spent to import telecom accessories, said Ban-gladesh Mobile Busines-smen Association (BMBA) president Engr Md. Nizam Uddin Jitu.

He made the comment while announcing a 5-day Dhaka International Tele-com Fair-2009 at Dhaka Reporters' Unity on Monday in the capital.

The fair will begin on 8 June and it will continue till June 12 at Bangladesh-China Frien-dship Conference Centre with a view to promoting Telecom Industry in Bangladesh.

"As the present government is determined to establish Digital Bangladesh through providing telecommunication facilities for general people at affordable prices the fair will play an important role to achieve the goal," said BMBA president.

This year the slogan of the fair is "Growing Towards a Digital Bangladesh." Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the fair as chief guest while finance minister, commerce minister and post and telecommunications minister will be present as special guests at the inaugural ceremony, the organizer said.

He said the fair will also help provide different brands of mobile sets of world's reno-wned companies to potential buyers at attractive offer under one shed. "Our targeted people of the fair are general visitors, potential customers and people related to the telecommunication business," he said.

Mobile Phone operators, PSTN service providers, Manufacturers and Imp-orters of mobile hand sets and retailers, mobile phone accessories pro-viders, ISP Companies, Telecommun-ication oriented educational organizations and other allied technology promoters will showcase their products and services at the fair.

A total of 52 stalls along with 15 pavilions and 6 mega pavilions will be set up in the fair, said BMBA president. The fair will remain open for all on 8th June at 2pm and rest of the days it will remain open from 10am to 9pm. The entry fee is Tk 20 per person. Channel F-2, an event management company, in coordination with the BMBA will organize the fair.

Syed Margub Morshed, former chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Golam Dastogir Gazi, director of FBCCI and Abul Kashem, first vice president of FBCCI, among others, spoke at the press conference.

47 pc of rural people live below poverty line

Around 47 percent of country's total population in rural areas is still living below the poverty line due to absence of pragmatic policies and its implementation and lack of coordination among different development partners.This revelation was made by speakers at a roundtable discussion on 'creating job opportunities for distressed women at village level' at the National Press Club yesterday.

The speakers said despite initiating several development projects sponsored by local and foreign organisations, the country remains among the most densely populated countries in the world where around 47 percent of its total population are living below the poverty line. Among them, the most vulnerable are the women and their children.

They said many local and foreign development partners in collaboration with NGOs have been investing crores of money to ensure development of rural areas and create job opportunities.

For eradicating poverty through creating job opportunities, ensuring improvement of socio-economic condition and sustainable development at village levels should be ensured with collective efforts. To make the mission a success, all including development partners and NGOs will have to take united steps or else, the millennium development goal by 2015 will not be achieved, they added.

Akmal Hossain project director of rural employment opportunities for public assets in his keynote paper said with a view to eradicating poverty of village level women, a project of maintenance of rural roads is being implemented investing euro 2,85,52,328. Around 24,444 women of around 388 unions throughout the country are engaged in this project. And the concerned NGO activists are providing information about the necessities of education, health, sanitation among these women. They are also influencing them for income generating works to eradicate poverty. The keynote paper also said the government in association with development partners has been implementing poverty reduction programmes throughout the country since long. European Commission, one of the development partners of the country wants to raise its assistances thro-ugh creating job opportunities which will increase access to food for vulnerable groups.