Malaysian group intends to build car plant

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=103912

Malaysian group intends to build car plant
Star Business report

The Malaysian Agate group has expressed its interest to build a car plant in joint venture with local the Walton High Tech Industries, officials of both the sides disclosed it yesterday.

The group will also import Walton-made motorbike and freeze and market those in Malaysia and some other countries.

“Bangladesh is a big market for cars and other motorised vehicles. Production cost will be relatively cheaper because of huge surplus labours,” said Agate Group Managing Director Sultan Abdul Quadir at a press briefing at the Walton headquarters at Motijheel in Dhaka.

The group has also planned to invest in the country’s power sector and human resource development, Quadir said.

Agate’s proposals include setting up 1,000-megawatt power plant based on coal fired facilities, medical schools and other training facilities to create qualified nurses and other technicians and imparting training to the local people with a duration ranging from three months to three years for overseas job market.

In the field of international trade, the delegation on behalf of the Malaysian government expressed its desire to export 1.5 million tonnes of palm oil to Bangladesh.

Quadir expressed his interest during a meeting with Commerce Minister Faruk Khan at his office Sunday.

Agate Group operates duty free outlets to sell cigarettes, cosmetics, jewellery, leather goods, perfumes, fashion wear, watches, textiles and electrical goods in Malaysia. The company also operates colleges to provide courses in engineering, electronics and information technology.

It involves in software development for finger print identifications, general security systems and warfare related technological equipment.

The group has a coalmine in Indonesia and a 1,200-megawatt power plant in Gujarat in India.

Walton Directors Mahbubul Alam and Abul Bashar Howlader were present at the press conference.

GP rolls out mobile handset

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GP rolls out mobile handset

Mime artistes perform at the launch of "Grameenphone V100”, the Tk 3,199 self-branded handset from the country's largest mobile operator, at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel yesterday.Photo: STAR

Star Business Report

Grameenphone yesterday unveiled a mobile handset under its own brand name. “Grameenphone V100″ is a complete package of voice, internet and value added services.

The Tk 3,199 handset also has a built-in camera and FM radio. The mobile phone will hit the market today. First-day buyers will receive a Tk 100 recharge card and a T-shirt.

The phone has an inbuilt ‘GP menu’, which lists all its attractive VAS (value added service), in a single menu.

Malaysian Agate Group wants to set up motor plant in Bangladesh

http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=140329

Malaysian Agate Group wants to set up motor plant in Bangladesh
UNB, Dhaka

Malaysian Agate Group is interested to set up a motor plant in Bangladesh, as it finds a huge market in the country and in its neighbouring nations for motor cars and other vehicles.

Addressing a press conference at Walton’s Motijheel office here, Agate Group’s Founder and Chairman Dr. Sultan Abdul Kadir said his group is willing to set up a motor plant in Bangladesh.

The Malaysian business group recently signed an agreement with local RB Group to import its Walton brand products to market those in South East Asian countries where Agate has its business.

The Agate Group’s chairman said his company finds very good potentials to market Walton products and motor vehicles to be produced here in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore and Myanmar.

A delegation of Agate Group, led by Sultan Abdul Kadir, is now visiting Bangladesh to explore business potentials here. The delegation called on Commerce Minister Faruk Khan Sunday and visited Walton’s manufacturing unit in Gazipur yesterday. The press conference was informed that setting up a power plant and establishing a manpower training institute is also included in the Agate Group’s future venture in Bangladesh.

The training centre’s main target will be to train up the local skilled and unskilled manpower to send them to Malaysia. Mentioning Bangladesh as a brotherly country, Sultan Abdul Kadir said there is huge natural resources and very cheap labour in Bangladesh which the country could easily exploit to produce world-class products.

BSF kills 70 Bangladeshis in last eight months

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=282448

BSF kills 70 Bangladeshis in last eight months with the latest killing on August 31

From 1 January 2000 to 31 August , 2009 stands at 797

Tuesday September 01 2009 02:03:02 AM BDT

BSF has gunned down yet another Bangladeshi on Monday 31 August taking the total of such killings to 70 during the eights months of this year. The latest victim was identified as Ershad Ali 32, a cattle trader who was killed along Putkhali border on Monday.(The Bd Today)

According to a UNB report: Indian Border Security Force (BSF) killed a Bangladeshi cattle trader at Putkhali border early Monday. BDR sources said BSF troops of Angrai camp caught Ershad Ali, 32, after a chase while he was returning home from India.The Indian border guards then beat him and tortured him with electric shock, leaving him dead on the spot. The body of Ershad, resident of Khalshi village in Benapole port thana, was left at no man’s land from where BDR recovered it.

According to statistics projected by ‘Adhikar’, a non-government human rights watchdog, some 62 Bangladeshi civilians were killed by the Indian BSF from January 1 to July 11 this year. It said: in more than nine years between 1 January 2000 and 10 July 2009 a total of 789 people were reported killed, 846 injured and 895 abducted by the BSF.

With the latest killing on August 31 the total number of Bangladeshis killed since 1 January 2009 stands at 70 , and that from 1 January 2000 to 31 August , 2009 stands at 797.

The killings of unarmed Bangladeshis by the BSF on the border are continuing in clear violation of the spirit of good neighborliness as well as international law and despite repeated pledges by the Indian authorities to stop it. In every meeting between BSF and BDR and also between the higher level officials of the two countries, the Indian side assures that killing of Bangladeshis by its forces on the border would come to an end immediately. But this pledge is seldom implemented.

Indian BSF had pledged very recently once again to stop killings of Bangladeshi citizens on the border. The assurance was given by BSF Chief Mahendra Lal Kumawat at a joint press briefing on conclusion of the three-day high level BDR-BSF conference in Dhaka on July 14. But it appears that BSF does not mean what it says and hence it continues killing Bangladeshis.

BSF kills 2

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BSF kills 2
Star Report

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) killed two Bangladeshi nationals at Meherpur and Benapole on Sunday and yesterday.

The victims are Ershad Ali alias Engine, 32, a cattle trader of Khalshi village in Benapole, and Sariful Islam, 30, of Ishakhali village in Meherpur.

BSF troops of Angrai camp caught Ershad Ali yesterday at Benapole when he was returning from Bongaon and beat him up and tortured with electric shock that left him dead, BDR sources said.

BDR later recovered the body.

In another incident, BSF shot Sariful Islam dead at Ishakhali border on Sunday. BSF took away the body after the incident.

BSF informed BDR of the incident Sunday night.

A BSF team of Taipur camp at Tehatta thana in Murshidabad opened fire on him when he was crossing the border about 4:30am, BDR sources said.

Ceramics brace for high demand

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Ceramics brace for high demand

Ceramic tableware is in the race to keep up with growing demand on domestic and international markets. Photo: FARR CERAMICS

Sajjadur Rahman

Domestic and export demand for ceramic tableware is rising rapidly, widening the gap between its demand and supply.

The demand-supply gap was estimated at 21,257 tonnes in fiscal 2007-08. It is expected to rise to 22,544 tonnes in four years, according to a recent study by the syndication department of Prime Bank Ltd.

“Bangladesh enjoys a comparative advantage in manufacturing ceramic tableware, particularly in export markets, due to cost competitiveness,” said Touhidul Alam Khan, executive vice president and head of the syndication finance unit of Prime Bank.

Ceramic manufacturing is a gas-based, labour intensive and skills-oriented business.

Traditionally, Japan, UK, Germany and other European countries dominated exports of ceramic tableware to world markets. But a jump in production costs, including wages and currency appreciation, made ceramic manufacturing unfeasible for the nations.

Khan said Bangladesh has certain competitive advantages over its competitors an availability of gas, cheap labour and the generalised system of preferences (GSP) that allows Bangladesh’s duty-free exports to Europe. There is no quota restriction either on the export.

There are nine ceramic tableware manufacturing companies in the country with a total capacity of nearly 24,000 tonnes a year as of 2008, of which an average of 48 percent is being exported and the remaining 52 percent is used in the domestic market, the study found.

Bangladesh exported ceramic tableware worth over $33 million in fiscal 2008-09, of which over 80 percent was destined to Italy, UK, USA, Germany, France, Canada and Sweden.

“We are getting export orders from new countries, like Turkey and India, every month,” said Iftekhar Uddin Farhad, managing director of FARR Ceramics, a fully export-oriented factory. The company’s exports to India will cross Tk 5 crore in 2009, he said.

“Our factory, which has a production capacity of around 30,000 pieces, is fully booked for the next months,” Farhad said.

Monno and Shinepukur ceramics have the highest production capacity of nearly 60,000 pieces a day followed by Standard Ceramic industries with 40,000 pieces a day, the study shows.

Ceramic tableware is considered sophisticated, fashionable and an indispensable household item worldwide. The products are also being used in all types of social functions, offices, community centres, hospitals, hotels and restaurants.

“Ceramic tableware has become a common household item in Bangladesh with a continuous rise in use among middle income groups in the past decade,” Khan said.

sajjad@thedailystar.net

Malaysian firm propose to invest $3 billion

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/aug/31/busi.html#7

Malaysian firm propose to invest $3 billion
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka

In a major move the Malaysian Agate Group of Companies has proposed investing US$ 3 billion in different projects in Bangladesh.

The group identified three major areas such as power generation, manpower development and trade promotion for such investment.

Dr Sultan Abdul Qader, leader of the a 13-member visiting delegation of the Agate Group expressed the desire in Dhaka on Sunday to commerce minister Faruk Khan when they met him at his secretariat office.

The proposal include setting up 1000MW power plants based on coal fire facilities, setting up medical schools and other training facilities to create qualified nurses and other technicians, developing manpower having three months to three years training suitable for employment market abroad.

The delegation also proposed exporting 1.5 million tonnes palm oil to Bangladesh from Malaysia.

The commerce minister praised the Malaysian move especially under joint ventures. Faruk Khan said Bangladesh had a huge population adding Malaysia could mobilise capital and technology to utilise it to the mutual benefit of both the countries.

Govt sets up top body to ease investment in private EPZs

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2009/08/31/77695.html

Govt sets up top body to ease investment in private EPZs

FE Report

The country’s lone private export processing zone gets a boost in wooing entrepreneurs as the government has formed a high powered body to ease foreign investment in the industrial park.

Executive Chairman of Board of Investment (BoI) heads the committee, which will formulate rules and regulations on export and import trades of the companies operating in a private EPZ.

The committee, constituted last week, would prepare the rules on a fast-track basis and submit them to the next Board meeting of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), which is headed by the prime minister.

The body formed under the Bangladesh Private EPZ law, 1996 would also ease hassles in obtaining work permit for foreigners and company registration in the private EPZs.

The move comes as the country’s first private EPZ prepares to woo investment in its 2500-acre facility on the bank of the river Karnaphuli in Chittagong.

The Korean EPZ has already per-mitted its sister company, Youngone Corporation, to set up the country’s largest footwear manufacturing firm at the industrial park.

Youngone has said it would invest around $120 million in the proposed footwear company, expected to start operation next year and would create jobs for more than 30,000 people.

Officials said once it goes into operation, the new company would need a number of permits and registration to export its goods, import raw materials and allow foreigners to work in the park.

The Korean EPZ authorities have said they would invite investment in the park next year, provided it rides out the energy crisis now affecting new factories in Chittagong district.

The newly formed committee will also expedite foreign trade procedures for the investors under the existing private EPZ law, 1996.

It will also provide guidelines on existing tax benefits and customs regime after scrutinizing the pros and cons of the country’s revenue laws.

Export to EU marks 8.65pc growth in FY 2008-09

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2009/08/31/77640.html

Export to EU marks 8.65pc growth in FY 2008-09

Mashiur Rahaman

Export of Bangladeshi products to European Union (EU) witnessed an 8.65 per cent growth in the fiscal year 2008-09 ended in June.

Country’s shipment to 26 out of total 27 EU member countries reached US$ 8.2 billion at the end of last fiscal year, which was US$ 7.6 billion in FY 2007-08, data revealed by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) showed.

“We expected growth over 10 per cent in export to the EU,” a well-placed EPB officer told the FE adding that it began to slow down by the first quarter-end of last fiscal year (2008-09).

Shrinking purchase order in readymade garments (RMG) export triggered by global financial recession that started burning European markets by September 2008 was the main reason for the slower growth, the EPB officer said.

Export to Europe faced several other challenges during the period, he elaborated adding that “Self imposed ban on frozen food export and falling market of leather and jute items in Europe also worked as major catalyst to this slow down.”

According to EPB sector-wise export performance record, apparel export covers 85 per cent (US$ 7.1 billion) of the country’s total export to EU in fiscal year 2008-09. Frozen food was the second largest exportable items to EU, earned US$ 0.23 billion, covering 2.8 per cent of the country’s total earning, the data revealed.

Germany was the largest importer of Bangladeshi products in EU during last fiscal, followed by the UK. Export earnings from Germany registered an increase of 4.37 per cent at the end of FY 2008-09 comparing to the previous fiscal. Export earnings from the country totalled US$ 2.27 billion in FY 2008-09 against US$ 2.17 billion in FY 2007-08.

Besides that, Bangladesh’s export earnings from UK totalled US$ 1.5 billion in last fiscal against US$ 1.3 billion in FY 2007-08.

With the economic recession slowly easing out and export ban deadline on frozen food likely to over soon, Bangladesh’s export performance to the region likely to witness a healthier picture ahead, experts related to the country’s international trade forecast.

Other than textile and frozen food, Bangladesh exports tea, agri-products, leather and leather goods, raw and processed jute goods and some other exportable items to EU.

Concrete wheat silo to be built near Mongla port

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Concrete wheat silo to be built near Mongla port
Staff Correspondent

The government yesterday decided to construct a concrete wheat silo with a capacity of 50,000 metric tons near Mongla port in Bagerhat.

It was decided at an inter-ministerial meeting at Food and Disaster Management Ministry with Food Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque in the chair.

“The silo will be constructed at Joymonirgol, 13 kilometres from Mongla port,” said Dr Razzaque emerging from the meeting.

He said with the construction of the silo there would be smooth loading and unloading of food grains. Around 40 percent of the government-imported food grains are unloaded at Mongla port.

Giving government’s high importance to food security, he said the new godown would help increase food security in the country. The Japanese government assured the government of giving Tk 225 crore to construct the silo, he added.

Dr Razzaque said the country has now godowns with a capacity of only 15 lakh metric tons of food grains. More godowns with capacity of another seven lakh metric tons would be constructed, he added.

Garment exports to Japan double

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Garment exports to Japan double

Workers pass a busy day at a production line in a garment factory. RMG shipments to Japan more than doubled in the immediate-past fiscal year as China is losing its edge in the Asian giant's market. Photo: STAR

Refayet Ullah Mirdha

Japan proves to be a lucrative garment export destination for Bangladesh as RMG shipments to the Asian giant have more than doubled in fiscal 2008-09 from a year ago.

Bangladesh exported ready-made garments worth $74.381 million in fiscal 2008-09, compared to $28.035 million in fiscal 2007-08, according to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data.

Japan has reduced its dependence on imports from China, which gave a boost to RMG exports out of Bangladesh, said manufacturers and exporters.

Recently, the Japanese government has advised entrepreneurs to divert investment to diverse countries.

Knitwear accounted for $21.986 million of total apparel exports in fiscal 2008-09, up from $7.234 million a year earlier. Woven garment exports rose to $52.395 million in fiscal 2008-09 from $20.801 million in the previous year, the EPB data said.

“We are optimistic that Japan will increase purchases from Bangladesh as the country reduced its dependence on China,” said BKMEA President Fazlul Hoque, who led a high-powered delegation to Japan in July, in search of more orders.

“Moreover, Japan is a ready market for us, as we produce high-quality products, which is a major criteria to get in,” he said.

Hoque said the trend shows Bangladesh will be able to export apparel items worth a billion dollars in the next five years.

Uniqlo, one of the largest retail chains in Japan, started investing in Bangladesh, to purchase garment items. “The company is planning to invest $100 million initially,” said Hoque.

Japan, being the second largest economy in the world with a $4.348 trillion GDP, is the fourth largest knitwear importer in the world. It imports knitwear items worth $11 billion and woven goods worth $12 billion a year.

Exporters said Japan bought garments worth $20 billion, or 84 percent of its total global purchase, from China in 2008.

The second largest exporter of garment items to Japan is Italy, with a 2.87 percent market share. While Bangladesh’s market share in the Japanese apparel market is near 1 percent, the BKMEA findings said.

In recent years, Japan’s knitwear imports from Korea, Italy and the US have dropped, while imports from Thailand, Vietnam, India, Cambodia and Bangladesh have risen, the BKMEA survey said.

Manmade fibre sweaters, pullovers and cardigans are the top import items, while cotton T-shirts and knitted shirts for both men and women are also quite popular in Japan, BKMEA data showed.

Under the worldwide movement of “China+1”, which promotes shifting the production point from China, it is indeed a great decision to choose Bangladesh as a new production point, said Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue.

The envoy was speaking at the launch of Matsuoka Apparels at The Westin Hotel Dhaka on March 22, 2008.

Former BGMEA President Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez said Japanese customers are relatively permanent customers. “We should handle with them with care, as they rely on quality,” Parvez said.

He said manufacturers should develop some separate product lines in their factories for the Japanese customers, as they never compromise on quality.

On the other hand, Japanese buyers should pay more for the high quality goods, the former BGMEA boss said.

reefat@thedailystar.net

Bangladesh maintains export trends

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/08/30/news0006.htm

Bangladesh maintains export trends

ACCORDING to recent media reports, Bangladesh stood tall with 11.88 per cent export growth until May 2009 amid tumbling shipments from major Asian countries because of the lingering global financial recession. As recorded in official data, goods worth US$14.14 billion were exported by the country between July 2008 and May 2009, compared to US$12.63 billion during the same period of last year. India, China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand were struggling to stop the free fall in export shipments as the global recession cut demand of goods in both sides of the Atlantic. China’s export fell by a record margin in May. Exports tumbled 26.4 per cent from a year earlier, exceeding previous record drop in February of 25.7 per cent. The growth in India’s merchandise exports dipped to 12.9 per cent for May 2009. Pakistan’s exports also came down by 5.14 per cent during the same period.

Exporters and trade experts attribute Bangladesh’s export success to the ‘competitiveness’ of the country’s readymade garment sector and availability of cheap labour, although exports of frozen food, leather and jute fell. Garment manufacturers produced lower-end products whose demand did not fall significantly in global markets. Remaining competitive in these days of difficulties since the quota system was withdrawn and the ongoing lingering economic slide worldwide is rewarding for Bangladesh. There are other factors for Bangladesh remaining tall, Better delivery, lower price and sewing quality kept Bangladesh still high and attractive when its rival countries had to pump in billions of dollars in stimulus packages to halt the export slide. Bangladesh would have to keep up the trend in the coming days for continuing its hold on the garment export markets to regain the accelerated export growth rate.

Islamic bank assets up sharply despite turmoil

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/aug/29/busi.html#6

Islamic bank assets up sharply despite turmoil
Agence France-Presse . Singapore

Assets held by the world’s 100 biggest Islamic banks grew 66 per cent in 2008 from the previous year despite the financial turmoil that clobbered mainstream lenders, a report said Friday.

The top 100 Islamic banks held assets totalling 580 billion US dollars last year, up from 350 billion dollars in 2007, according to an annual report by The Asian Banker, a magazine for financial professionals.

In the same period, Asia’s 300 biggest banks saw their assets rise by a much slower 13.4 per cent, it said.

A financial storm sparked by a crisis in the US housing market swept across the world late last year. Its impact spilled over into the general economy and sent several countries into recession.

Prominent US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed into bankruptcy, while several other major Western banks suffered massive losses.

‘Despite the financial turmoil in late 2008 that crippled so many large Western institutions, Islamic banks have continued to grow in prominence and size,’ the magazine said in a press statement.

Emmanuel Daniel, the magazine’s president and chief executive, added: ‘Islamic finance has seen an incredible surge in popularity, based on stronger regulatory regimes and a better international understanding of its dynamics.’

Islamic banking fuses principles of sharia or Islamic law and modern banking. Islamic funds are banned from investing in companies associated with tobacco, alcohol or gambling.

Iranian banks were the biggest players in the global Islamic banking sector, holding seven out of the top 10 rankings and 12 out of the 100, but Saudi Arabian lenders were more profitable, the report said.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank had the highest net income of 1.74 billion dollars, which is more than five times the earnings of Bank Tejarat, Iran’s most profitable lender.

Iranian banks also took up 40 per cent of the total assets of the top 100 banks, with the UAE, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait accounting for a combined 40 per cent. Smaller banks in 10 other markets accounted for the rest.

Outside of the Middle East, two Islamic banks in Britain made it to the top 100, according to the report.

Asian and North African banks ‘are still very small’ compared with the Middle Eastern players, it said, adding that ‘only Malaysian and Bangladeshi Islamic banks have a significant amount of assets’.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, had only two banks on the list, Pakistan had three, while regional financial centre Singapore and the Malay Islamic kingdom of Brunei had one each.

Demand for Bangladeshi agro products in int’l market increasing rapidly

http://www.thebangladeshtoday.com/archive/August%2009/29-8-2009.htm#back%20page

Demand for Bangladeshi agro products in int’l market increasing rapidly

BSS, Dhaka

The demand for Bangladeshi agro-based products in the international market is increasing day by day as the country’s leading exporters witnessed a rapid growth in the sector in the last couple of years.

“Despite global economic meltdown, we have exported agro- based products worth about Taka 200 crore in the last fiscal year, which was Taka 60 crore higher than that of the previous fiscal,” said Mizanur Rahman, Chief of Export of PRAN-RFL Group, the largest food manufacturer and exporter of the country.

Against the backdrop of high demand of the agro-based products, he said, PRAN-RFL has set a target of exporting products of Taka 300 crore in the current fiscal year.

He said the company is now exporting juice, drinks, mustard oil and muri (fried rice) to different countries of Asia, Africa, Europe as well as America. Besides, agro-based products, the demand for confectionery items and snacks are increasing gradually in those countries, he said. Rahman said the PRAN-RFL Group, which got prestigious Export Trophy for the last six consecutive years, has stuck a deal recently with an Angolan company to export PRAN products of US Dollar 3.5 million to the African country.

“Due to the chronological developments of the quality products as well as better marketing and distribution strategies, PRAN products have created a huge hype among the African countries,” he said.

Rahman said their company has taken up initiatives for expanding the market by exporting the PRAN products to more countries where there are huge demands for Bangladeshi food products.

“We would soon start exporting PRAN products to Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Brunei, Mauritius, Congo, the Maldives, Sudan, Jordan, Algeria, Cambodia and Iraq,” he said, mentioning that PRAN products are now being exported to about 75 countries. Rahman said India is the single largest country which alone imports 27 percent PRAN products. Besides India, 35 percent PRAN products go to the Middle East, 30 percent to Africa and the rest go to the ASEAN, European and North American countries, he added. He said PRAN-RFL Group has recently opened a separate company in Dubai named ‘PRAN Foods Ltd’ for expansion of their business in the Middle East. The per day sales of the company have stood at US Dollar 35,000, he said.

Rahman said nearly 130 Bangladeshi officials of PRAN-RFL Group have been working in various countries of the world to look after and expand business in those countries. He said international trademark registration of PRAN has been done recently which would help widen the market fast. He, however, said the market growth of Bangladeshi products is being hindered in the African countries due to non-existence of Bangladeshi missions. He said stopping issuance of new visas for Bangladeshis by Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries is also creating barrier to widening the market.

“We are also facing problems in sending our manpower to India as the country has taken strict measures in issuance of visa,” Rahman said.

He underscored the need for signing of free trade agreements with the African countries in the interest of market expansion of Bangladeshi products.

Chinese company to invest $ 25.52m in Comilla EPZ

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/08/28/news0849.htm

Chinese company to invest $ 25.52m in Comilla EPZ

BSS, Dhaka

Bangladesh Textile & Fiber Industry Limited, a Chinese company, will set up a fiber and non-woven fabric manufacturing industry in Comilla Export Processing Zone.

This 100 percent foreign owned company will invest US$ 25.52 million in setting up their unit and produce different types of fiber and non-woven fabric. The company will also create employment opportunity for 895 Bangladeshi workers including 21 foreign nationals.

An agreement to this effect was signed between Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and Bangladesh Textile & Fiber Industry Limited on BEPZA Complex, Dhaka on Thursday.

M Mahbub Ul Alam, Member (Engineering) of BEPZA and Zhang Fang, chairman of Bangladesh Textile & Fiber Industry Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organization.

Among others, Brig General Jamil Ahmed Khan, ndc, psc, Executive Chairman, Member (Finance) A.K.M. Mahabubur Rahman, General Manager (Investment Promotion) A.Z.M. Azizur Rahman and other officers of BEPZA were present at the signing ceremony.