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BIZ LETTERS
Flowers, a hit on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is observed all over the world, including Bangladesh, with much grandeur and pomp. .Many express their love for others by exchanging flowers, bouquets, etc. Love is not a trifle matter and it should be extended to the family, society, country and all human beings.
Giving flowers has become quite popular, and flowers are used on many occasions such as weddings, inaugurations and birthdays.
This has brought immense opportunities for flower growers and sellers. Flowers, especially rose, bakul and marigold, are high in demand among consumers. Growers and sellers are able to earn hefty amounts by flower trade because of high demand. The Valentine's Day engulfed the minds of the lovers across die country and a large number of flowers and bouquets were sold. All the five star hotels in the country earned more than Tk 20 cores on the occasion. I hope the cultivation of flowers will increase and flowers will become an export item in future.
MZ Haider
Narsingdi
Investment in Sylhet
It is said that Sylhet, the northeastern metropolitan city, is the 'London' of Bangladesh. We know a huge amount of remittance flows in from non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB), whose origin is the greater Sylhet region. From most families, at least one person lives in Europe or America. It is natural that their relatives enjoy a better life.
They usually deposit die money in any bank and pass daily life without doing anything. A major portion of the total money goes for consumption and purchase of luxury goods.
Over the last two to three years, a few investment efforts were observed. However, remitters highly prefer investment in the real estate sector.
Construction of attractive shopping malls has also been witnessed. Normally outsiders do not visit Sylhet much except occasionally, to Jaflong or Madhobkunda. Thus, the question is, who will go to these luxury malls built with the remitters' money?
There is not even much demand for the products sold in the malls and the population of the city is also limited.
Hundreds of millions of taka are being invested. This is not a city like Bangkok or Singapore. Foreigners hardly come here to shop except for some sporadic Sylhcti NRB tourists.
As a result of recession in Europe and America, the income of NRBs has declined. This can be treated as a very awful year for the economy of Sylhet. The remitters are send -ing very low amounts, compared to previous years. Their visits to home have reduced. Earlier, many would come home to get married in this season. But even that is not so satisfactory now.
What will be the fate of these non-productive investments in this region, if this trend continues? The former caretaker government declared the region as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Fortunately, Sylheti people have been able to hold on to the Ministry of Finance this session also. Economic analysts strongly feel that productive investment in this region is a must. Government initiatives to strengthen the SEZ can
help in this case. If that is ensured, more people will get employment. Now the government should expedite the project of SEZ, educate people for useful business, and cooperate in their ventures. And finally, the government should use the resources (natural and capital) of this region for the balanced development of the whole nation.
Md Abdul Hamid
Sylhet
Special incentives to jute sectors
Recently a jute fair was held at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Dhaka. The main objective of the fair was to promote the jute products of Bangladesh to buyers from different parts of the globe. The fair was well organized, but it failed to attract buyers or clients from abroad.
Of course, the "so-called" Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) has to be blamed for this because it was its duty to introduce the fair in Bangladesh to the rest of the world. EPB can easily develop websites where itineraries of fairs throughout the year will be given. This is what countries like Thailand and Malaysia do and why they are far ahead of us. Jute should have been our main export commodity but our previous governments have failed miserably to make jute a main export item.
Our unemployment rate could be reduced if this sector prospered. We require visionary plan to keep the jute sector alive. For this, if possible, the government should give special incentives to the jute factories that are on the verge of closure. Therefore, our government may take some strategic steps that I want to suggest.
The government should create 'Bangladesh Jute Chamber of Commerce and Industry', which will subsume, merge and integrate the functions of the various institutions currently operating in the jute sector.
It should explore the possibilities of establishing an export department within this chamber to harmo-
nise all development and promotional activities worldwide.
The government should establish a national jute and jute textile museum in Bangladesh to preserve and highlight the heritage of jute. It should develop the next generation of jute machinery through a comprehensive technology benchmarking five-year plan for machinery development, and establish research and development via public-private partnership.
The government should take a new commodity development strategy to focus on positioning jute as a superior and environmental friendly product, enhance the productivity of raw jute, increase exports through innovative marketing, and better tire working conditions of the workers engaged in jute industry.
The basic objective of these strategic steps is to increase the export of jute and jute products. We wish we could become the leader of jute products worldwide again.
Minhaj Ahmed
Dhaka