First Meeting of FBCCI Standing Committee on Budget
The first meeting of FBCCI Standing Committee on Budget, Import Duty, VAT, Income Tax and other taxes was held on 3 February, 2008 at FBCCI Board Room. Chaired by Syed Manzur Elahi, Administrator of FBCCI the meeting was attended by the members of the committee. The meeting discussed on preparing the FBCCI budget proposal for 2008-2009. Addressing the meeting Syed Manzur Elahi, Administrator of FBCCI urged the member bodies of FBCCI to submit their budget proposals to FBCCI as early as possible. FBCCI budget proposals will be prepared on the basis of the proposals received from the member bodies, he added. Mr. Elahi opined that the national budget should be investment oriented. Main target of the national budget should be industrialization and generation of employment for economic development of the country, the meeting observed.

Training Course on 'Productivity Development' organized by FBCCI
A training course on 'Productivity Development' organized under the project entitled "Capacity Building of FBCCI" funded by Government of Bangladesh (GOB) was held at FBCCI Conference Centre during 12-14 February, 2008. Around 30 (thirty) representatives from chambers, trade bodies and other organisations participated in the course. The three-day course was designed to develop the knowledge and techniques of productivity of the trainees. It included modules on significance of Productivity, Developing HR for Productivity Improvment, Techniques of Productivity, Motivation for Improvement of productivity, Capital Productivity Management etc. Resource persons from different training institutes and senior officials of FBCCI conducted the course. Syed Jamaluddin, Secretary General of FBCCI distributed the certificates to the participants at the closing ceremony. Mr. Jamaluddin, in his speech, said that there is scope for improvement in every phase of our life. To raise our existing status we have to ensure good and productive performance, he added. An enabling environment is to be  created for better performance of those who work. He thanked the participants for attending the program and hoped that the trainees would perform better on return to their respective  job. Among others, Mir Muniruzzaman, Secretary of FBCCI, Mr. Faiz Ahmed, Additional Secretary, FBCCI and other officials of FBCCI were present.

FBCCI organizes seminar on Access to European Market for Promotion of Export
The FBCCI leaders at a seminar emphasized the need for raising quality of products to enter in the European market for promotion of Bangladeshi export. They also stressed the need of relaxation of rules of origin for proper utilisation of the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) facilities granted by the European Union. FBCCI organized the seminar titled 'access to European market for promotion of export' with the Secretary General Syed Jamaluddin in the chair.

Hon'ble Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Touhid Hossain in his speech urged the businessmen for increasing quality of products and to explore new markets around the globe. "A big part of potential markets are still unexplored… please explore the Nordic countries also to boost export," he said. Mr. Hossain also urged the businessmen to be compliant to meet the EU requirements so that GSP facilities can be utilized. Expanding the product basket will also help access to the EU market, he added.Special guest of the seminar, the trade Adviser of European Commission Mr. Zillul Hye Razi in his keynote speech said nearly 52 per cent of Bangladeshi exports go to EU market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement. Bangladesh is enjoying the GSP facilities of the EU since 1982. He said apart from the readymade garment, country's pharmaceuticals export increased significantly utilising the GSP facility.
He identified some constraints of utilising EU GSP that includes technical barriers to trade like sanitary and phyto-sanitary, rules of origin, supply capacity, consumer demand and duty structure.
BTMA president Mr.Abdul Hye, Jewellery Association president Mr. Anwar Hossain, Silk Manufacturers' Association president Mr. Alauddin Ahmed, Garment Buying Association president Mr. Kyum Reza Chowdhury and FBCCI secretary Mir Muniruzzaman also spoke, among others, on the occasion.

53 to contest in FBCCI Executive Committee Election 
Total 53 candidates are contesting in the election for directorships of FBCCI. As per the schedule, the FBCCI election board published the final list of the candidates for the biennial election to the board of country’s apex trade body, scheduled to be held on 17 March, 2008. On the fixed day for withdrawal of nominations, two candidates from the Chamber group and two from the Association group withdrew their nominations. Now, 26 contenders from the Chamber group and 27 contestants from the Association group remained in the fight for 24 directorships of the FBCCI board.

All the 38 directors-nominated and elected-enjoy the voting right to chose one president and two vice-presidents to lead the FBCCI.   Most of the remaining candidates are grouped in two panels-one is led by aspiring president candidate Mr. Annisul Huq and the other by aspirant Mr. M. A Rouf Chowdhury. Mr. M A Motaleb of Bangladesh Auto Biscuit Manufacturers Association and Mr. M A Momen of Bangladesh Ink Manufacturers Association withdrew their nominations from the Association group while Ms. Chowdhury Afroz Zahan of Kurigram Chamber and Mr. Ahmed Zaman of Faridpur chamber withdrew their nominations from the Chamber group.

FBCCI seminar stressed on regional accord to raise export items
Speakers at a seminar on 'Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) in Asia-Pacific: Impact on Bangladesh' urged the politicians, businesspersons and government to go for regional agreements to raise the exports of promising new items to reduce dependence on traditional exports. They said during the past decade the country’s export items did not increase despite different regional and international agreements saw some rise in exports from limited goods because of demands without adding new destinations for our items. The situation has forced us to remain dependent on exports of readymade apparels, they observed. If the garments industry collapse, Bangladesh export trade will fall, which shows it was not possible to strengthen the foundation of our export trade, the speakers warned.
Presided over by FBCCI Secretary General Syed Jamaluddin, the seminar was attended as chief guest by World Bank’s senior economist Dr Zaidi Sattar and Dr. Mostafa Abid Khan, Joint Chief of the Tariff Commission as special guest. The keynote paper was presented by Dr. Hamidur Rashid, DG of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs.  Mr.S M AL Husainy, Mr. Abdul Huq and Mr. Manjur Ahmed took part in the discussion on the paper.  The speakers said Bangladesh has to take a quick decision now to enter into bilateral or regional agreements to expand export trade by identifying prospective export items shaking off all fears.In his speech the Chief Guest  Dr. Zaidi Sattar warned Bangladesh could never become a middle income nation if it fails to increase the number of export items and their destinations.Bangladesh needs to go for regional agreements quickly to expand its export basket to overcome the dependence on ready made garments, Dr. Sattar noted.  He observed, despite a balanced approach among the WTO member countries, discriminatory attitudes are reflected among member nations in regional agreements. In this connection, he stressed the need for accord on trade, economy and political basis at regional level. Syed Jamaluddin, Secretary General of FBCCI summed up the discussion.

Wrap up ceremony of EU project on Export Integration and Entrepreneur Development
The wrap up ceremony of the European Union funded project on 'Export Integration and Entrepreneur Development' was held at a city hotel on 27 February, 2008. The project was run by FBCCI since November, 2006. H.E. Mr. Stefan Frowein, Ambassador of Delegation of the European Commission in Bangladesh was present as Chief Guest. Chaired by Syed Manzur Elahi, Administrator of FBCCI the ceremony was also attended by the representatives of international organizations, experts and leading businessmen. Syed Jamaluddin, Secretary General of FBCCI and Mir Muniruzzaman, Secretary of FBCCI also addressed the occasion. Addressing the ceremony, the Chief Guest H.E. Mr. Stefan Frowein, Ambassador of Delegation of the European Commission said that European Union is the largest donor in Bangladesh in the field of trade related technical assistance which is fully justified by both the importance of the sector for the country's growth and by the fact that EU is Bangladesh's largest trading partner.  The EU will provide Bangladesh with some 80 million euros as trade related technical assistance to support capacity developments of Bangladesh industries especially the export oriented manufacturing sector, the ambassador mentioned. Syed Manzur Elahi, Administrator of FBCCI is his speech said that export earning of Bangladesh had increased significantly as result of implementation of export-led growth strategy of Bangladesh and duty free access and special facilities like GSP provided by the EU and some other trade partners of Bangladesh. "We believe that there is still enormous scope for our trade expansion in the European Union," he added. Earlier Mir Muniruzzaman, Secretary of FBCCI and the Project Director made an introduction of the project. The project was launched with an aim to train exporters and businessmen to strengthen their base so that they can compete and sustain in the international market.  The FBCCI has published 10 help line handbooks to help the local entrepreneurs on export related issues. It also organized 15 high profile seminars on important topics relating to EU legislation on trade investment, promoting technology transfer and support initiative to promote vocational training and entrepreneurship. Syed Jamaluddin, Secretary General of FBCCI offered vote of thanks.