& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Consumer bureau on the cards to monitor market

Commerce minister calls Registrar of Joint Stock Companies corrupt

STAR BUSINESS REPORT
A consumer bureau with quasijudicial authority will be formed shortly to monitor local market, Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury disclosed yesterday.
The bureau will also follow the global market trend, he added.
The bureau will do research works for the government and if private sector does not behave properly, the government would intervene the market, the minister said, adding that the bureau will monitor the market at home considering the quality and prices of products from global perspective.
The commerce minister was speaking at the monthly luncheon meeting of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) held at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.
Khosru said the government has undertaken major reforms in Export Promotion Bureau, Tariff Commission and other government agencies.
Citing example of Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, he added it is a regulatory body but totally
inefficient and corrupt. A poor country like Bangladesh cannot afford such corruption, the minister felt.
In order to make EPB and Tariff Commission more efficient 25 per cent of their total staff will be recruited from the private sector, he went on.
Khosru urged the business community to improve the capability of different trade bodies. "If the trade bodies don't improve their capability, their inputs for the government would not be very effective."
FICCI President Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan said the government is not moving quickly enough to ensure that the country's laws and regulations are in conformity with WTO agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). By end 2005, Bangladesh will be required to bring its laws into TRIPS compliance, he added.
There exists a direct relationship between increased foreign direct investment and IPR protection, the FICCI leader said.
The emerging external environment is bound to have impact on
the economy, which will definitely call for much superior domestic conditions to attract investment. "In the foreseeable future, the world market demand is bound to shrink further, " Wali Bhuiyan stated.
Establishing the rule of law is in fact a pre-requisite to ensure good governance and good governance is not possible without ensuring political and bureaucratic accountability, he added.
Bhuiyan said private sector investment and FDI inflow are severely hindered by the administrative barriers arising out of lack of transparency and accountability, which logically leads to inefficiency and corruption.
The size of the state organs is quite large and thus mostly inefficient, unproductive and hazardous. "So, rightsizing the government is important."
"Corruption is a disguised form of taxation. Extensive discretionary powers in the hands of the officials and weakness in the legal framework also attracts corruption," he added.