UNB, Dhaka :
Noting that Khaleda Zia has conceded defeat on all fronts, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Sunday said the BNP chief will have to stand in the dock one day for killing innocent people, including children and women, in the name of hartal and blockade.
“She (Khaleda) has got defeated in movement, election and politics as she had earlier insisted that she would not leave her office until defeating Sheikh Hasina and her government. But, the entire world witnessed with surprise that she returned home after staying at her office for 92 days,” he said.
The Commerce Minister was delivering his speech while taking part in general discussion on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2015-16.
Referring to Khaleda Zia’s speech on Saturday at an iftar party venting her anger towards the government, Tofail said, “Can you imagine how mean-minded she is?”
Highlighting government’s various steps towards flourishing trade and commerce and also the RMG sector’s high potentials, Tofail urged both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to reduce tax at source to a tolerant level from the proposed 1 percent as the RMG sector accounts for 81 percent of the country’s foreign currency earnings.
He said, although
Bangladesh is the second largest RMG-exporting country, it was affected due to the mindless hartal and blockade programmes for 92 days enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance this year.
Besides, he said, the RMG business has also been hit due to the devaluation of the Euro.
Considering these, Tofail said, it would perhaps not be possible in the outgoing fiscal year to attain the RMG export target of $ 33.2 billion.
He, however, said the country aims to attain $50 billion export earnings from RMG in 2021 when the country would be observing its golden jubilee of independence. The Commerce Minister aid ‘Rana Plaza’ is not the lone incident in Bangladesh. “The country has proved there are so many development incidents… Bangladesh is now a role model of development.” Urging the Finance Minister to take practical and rationale steps to save the local industries, he suggested imposing higher duty on import to protect those local industries which produce various items.
Laying emphasis on giving more attention to prospective sectors like furniture, jute, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, Tofail said cash incentives should be there for further flourishing the sectors.
He hoped the current level of exports of $ 1.5 billion from leather and leather products would go up to $ 2 billion in the next two to three years, and sought tax holiday for the poultry sector considering the growing demand of people.
By 2021, Tofail hoped, Bangladesh would turn self-reliant in tea production and could also go for more exports.
He suggested reduction of import duty on CKD (completely knocked down) for assembling motorcycles by local industries to have more value addition.
The Commerce Minister said steps have already been taken for product and market diversification in Latin America while Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) have been signed with Brazil, Argentina and Chili for exporting Bangladeshi products to those countries.
He said, Bangladesh is moving ahead in trade diplomacy as the country has got duty- and quota-free access to most developed countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Norway, China, Canada and the EU. Even India has also provided such facility to Bangladesh.
Tofail said, considering the current Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), Bangladesh would not only become a mid-income country by 2021 but would also be graduated from a, LDC to a developing country in the future.
He also said the prices of essentials are stable during this holy month of Ramadan due to the extensive monitoring of the government. The minister informed the House that the export and import policy would be formulated soon for the next three years to create a congenial atmosphere for trade and commerce.
Noting that Khaleda Zia has conceded defeat on all fronts, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Sunday said the BNP chief will have to stand in the dock one day for killing innocent people, including children and women, in the name of hartal and blockade.
“She (Khaleda) has got defeated in movement, election and politics as she had earlier insisted that she would not leave her office until defeating Sheikh Hasina and her government. But, the entire world witnessed with surprise that she returned home after staying at her office for 92 days,” he said.
The Commerce Minister was delivering his speech while taking part in general discussion on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2015-16.
Referring to Khaleda Zia’s speech on Saturday at an iftar party venting her anger towards the government, Tofail said, “Can you imagine how mean-minded she is?”
Highlighting government’s various steps towards flourishing trade and commerce and also the RMG sector’s high potentials, Tofail urged both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to reduce tax at source to a tolerant level from the proposed 1 percent as the RMG sector accounts for 81 percent of the country’s foreign currency earnings.
He said, although
Bangladesh is the second largest RMG-exporting country, it was affected due to the mindless hartal and blockade programmes for 92 days enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance this year.
Besides, he said, the RMG business has also been hit due to the devaluation of the Euro.
Considering these, Tofail said, it would perhaps not be possible in the outgoing fiscal year to attain the RMG export target of $ 33.2 billion.
He, however, said the country aims to attain $50 billion export earnings from RMG in 2021 when the country would be observing its golden jubilee of independence. The Commerce Minister aid ‘Rana Plaza’ is not the lone incident in Bangladesh. “The country has proved there are so many development incidents… Bangladesh is now a role model of development.” Urging the Finance Minister to take practical and rationale steps to save the local industries, he suggested imposing higher duty on import to protect those local industries which produce various items.
Laying emphasis on giving more attention to prospective sectors like furniture, jute, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, Tofail said cash incentives should be there for further flourishing the sectors.
He hoped the current level of exports of $ 1.5 billion from leather and leather products would go up to $ 2 billion in the next two to three years, and sought tax holiday for the poultry sector considering the growing demand of people.
By 2021, Tofail hoped, Bangladesh would turn self-reliant in tea production and could also go for more exports.
He suggested reduction of import duty on CKD (completely knocked down) for assembling motorcycles by local industries to have more value addition.
The Commerce Minister said steps have already been taken for product and market diversification in Latin America while Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) have been signed with Brazil, Argentina and Chili for exporting Bangladeshi products to those countries.
He said, Bangladesh is moving ahead in trade diplomacy as the country has got duty- and quota-free access to most developed countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Norway, China, Canada and the EU. Even India has also provided such facility to Bangladesh.
Tofail said, considering the current Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), Bangladesh would not only become a mid-income country by 2021 but would also be graduated from a, LDC to a developing country in the future.
He also said the prices of essentials are stable during this holy month of Ramadan due to the extensive monitoring of the government. The minister informed the House that the export and import policy would be formulated soon for the next three years to create a congenial atmosphere for trade and commerce.
