Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Saturday appreciated the role played by the business community in the overall development of the country and making Bangladesh 'the fastest-growing economy in the world'.
While inaugurating the national committee secretariat of International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICC,B) in the city's Gulshan area, he wished that the business community together with the public sector will continue to work to fulfil the vision of Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina in making Bangladesh a developed country by 2041.
The Commerce Minister congratulated ICC, Bangladesh President Mahbubur Rahman, members of the executive board as well as the members patrons in setting up a state-of-the-art secretariat and expressed his hope that they will play a positive role in further development of the country.
The minister also launched ICC, B Business Directory which contains basic information about Bangladesh, information for trade and investment and FDI. The first directory was published in 2008.
ICC,B President Rahman said that they started their journey in a small office located on the premises of DCCI with 17 members.
Today, he said, ICC, B has 10 chambers of commerce and business association members under organisation category (FBCCI, DCCI, MCCI, CCCI, FICCI, BAB, BIA, BGMEA, BKMEA and BTMA) and 128 members under corporate category (31 commercial banks, seven non-banking financial institutions, 10 insurance companies, five law firms, 56 national companies and 19 transnational companies).
Rahman mentioned that ICC,B had so far organised seven international and regional conferences which were attended by heads of state, heads of governments, ministers, heads of international agencies, business leaders, professionals and experts from home and abroad.
The latest conference was held on December 10-12, 2019 and President Abdul Hamid inaugurated the conference, he noted.
Rahman acknowledged ICCB Founding Vice President late Latifur Rahman, AK Azad, Kutubuddin Ahmed, Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury (Parvez), Tapan Chowdhury. A.S.M. Quasem and Md. Fazlul Haque played the key role in mobilising the resources for buying new office premises.
ICCB Vice President AK Azad recalled the role played by founding ICCB Vice President Latifur Raman for his guidance and continuous support to ICC Bangladesh in carrying out his various activities since the national secretariat was set up in 1994.