Bangladesh: Highway

Malaysian firm to build Bangladesh highway


Bangladesh has given the go-ahead to a Malaysian firm's proposal to construct a highway linking Dhaka and Chittagong at a cost of $896 million - the biggest private investment in road building.

A senior official of the communications ministry here said a high-powered committee approved the proposal last week and sent it to the cabinet for final approval.

"If the cabinet approves the proposal, it will be the biggest private sector investment in the road sector," the official told Wednesday.

The Malaysian company, Azimat Consortium, will build the 210-km highway to Chittagong, about 250 km southeast of here, under the 'Build Own Operate and Transfer' scheme.

Under the proposal submitted by Azimat to the communications ministry in June this year, the 210 km four-lane toll highway will be constructed in five years without any financial involvement of the Bangladesh government.

The proposal also seeks a 35 year concession period, including 5 years of construction time, tax holiday for 10 years after starting toll collection and duty-free import of equipment for construction purposes. The toll collection has been divided into 5 year slabs and the company estimates that it will earn about $12.7 billion in toll revenue over 30 years.

The company proposes to construct 13 flyovers, 2 bridges on the Meghna and Sitalakhya rivers, 4 toll plazas, parking lots, rest houses, toilets, CNG and petrol filling stations, eateries and mosques. It will also install closed circuit television cameras at strategic points.

The highway will augment the Chittagong port's activities by ensuring rapid supply and delivery of export and import items from the capital to the port city and vice versa.

Bangladesh: Telecom

Bangladesh cell phone usage grows by 144%

The number of mobile phone users in Bangladesh grew by 144 per cent in 2005, to 9.4 million in December from 3.85 million a year earlier, market officials said yesterday.

The gains raised the mobile phone penetration rate among Bangladesh’s 140 million people to 6.7 per cent from 2.75 per cent. The fast-growing mobile phone market is expected to have 18 million users by next year.

Bangladesh’s top mobile company, Grameenphone, majority owned by Norway’s Telenor, which had a subscriber base of 2.4 million in December 2004, doubled that number to five million, accounting for 60 per cent of the market, said Syed Yamin Bakht, the company’s general manager.

Telecom Malaysia’s AKTEL maintained its second position, with subscriptions rising to 2.6 million from 1.1 million a year ago, said Asif Iqbal, head of marketing at the company.

Egypt’s Orascom Telecom’s Banglalink established itself in third position by aggressively marketing its service. Banglalink began its Bangladesh operations in March and attracted 1.1 million subscribers by December, a company official told Reuters.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. with Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL), operator of CityCell, fell to fourth position from third a year ago, with its subscriber base rising from 350,000 a year ago to 500,000.

State-run Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd had 200,000 after launching its service in March.

A Warid Telecom International (LLC) of the United Arab Emirates plans soon to launch Bangladesh’s sixth mobile phone company.

Bangladesh has 1 million fixed-line phones provided by the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB).

WorldTel to start operation in Dhaka next March 2006

WorldTel Ltd, the lone license holder for providing land phone services in Dhaka zone, will start its operation by next March.
"We hope to start operation in next March with initial capacity of 100,000 lines and increase the number to five lakh by the end of the next year," Nayeem Chowdhury, chief executive officer of WorldTel Ltd, an UK-based telecommunications company, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The company has already imported equipment from Germany and China for providing phone service with wireless local loop (WLL) technology and installation work is going on in full swing, he said. The company had a plan to launch operation by December but the delay in obtaining allocation of microwave frequency held back the launch, Chowdhury added.

WorldTel is primarily investing around US$ 50 million and will increase it to $300 million. The company obtained licence from the government in July 2001 to provide 300,000 land phones in Dhaka at an investment of about $300 million on a build-operate-own basis with four years of exclusive right.

There are one million fixed-line phones provided by state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) and more than nine million mobile phone lines, supplied by five operators, in the country of around 140 million people.

The demand for fixed phones in the capital is estimated to be around 10 lakh while the registered demand with the BTTB is about two lakh, sources said. The BTTB does not have the capability to meet the growing demand for land phones due to infrastructural inadequacy.

WorldTel went to court after the telecom regulator cancelled its exclusive right terming it anti-competitive and violative of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on August 23 this year dismissed WorldTel's petition for retaining its four-year co-exclusive right with BTTB to provide land phone in Dhaka, paving the way for private land phone companies to operate.

The central zone, also known as Dhaka Multi-Exchange Area, covers Dhaka city, Jinjira, Savar, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Tongi, and accounts for about 60 percent of the total demand for fixed phones in the country.

Bangladesh: Financial Education

Citigroup plans to hold financial education summit in Bangladesh

Citigroup plans to hold an international financial education summit in Bangladesh. As financial education is increasingly becoming important for micro finance activities, Citigroup's top executives in Asia Pacific region plan a summit in Bangladesh, the birthplace of micro credit.

"We will hold an annual summit in Bangladesh shortly," Ashok Vaswani, Citigroup CEO for Consumer Banking in Asia Pacific, told The Daily Star. After visiting India and China, Citigroup's top officials will select a place for the third conference.

Last year, the group committed US$200 million over 10 years to support financial education programmes and organisations around the world. The two-day second Financial Education Summit 2005 jointly organised by Citigroup and INSEAD ended in Kuala Lumpur on December 13.

More than 250 delegates from 30 countries participated in the summit held at Prince Hotel with representatives from private, government, and non-government organisations (NGOs). An eight-member team from Bangladesh also jointed the event.

Donald J Johnson, secretary general of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Dinh Tuyen Truong, trade minister of Vietnam, Anil Gaba, professor of risk management of Decision Science of INSEAD, and Liu Zhongjun, vice president of China Banking Association, were among the keynote speakers at the summit.

Ashok Vaswani said, "Our goal was to understand the level of interest in financial education around the region."

There is a tremendous need to help people budget and mange their income, save and invest efficiently, protect themselves against fraud and prepare for the future, Vaswani said.

"Financial education is important for everyone, and we should begin as early as possible." "Our commitment is serious. It is broad. It is long term. It cuts across ages, nationalities, income levels and financial experience."

The Citigroup Foundation focuses its grants primarily on three areas -- financial education, educating the next generation, and building communities and entrepreneurs. International Herald Tribune supported the promotion of this event to attract participants from different countries.

INSEAD is widely recognised among the world's top-tier business schools as one of the most innovative and influential one. It is the only business school with full-fledged campuses in Asia and Europe. First financial education summit was held in Hong Kong a year ago.

Bangladesh: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Over $450mn FDI in Bangladesh till June 2005

By Farid Ahmed, Dhaka : Bangladesh saw a big rise in foreign direct investment into the country between January and June this year though economists have warned that the recent spike in terrorist incidents in the country could adversely affect inflow of funds.

The central bank statistics shows the country attracted foreign investment of $453.7 million till June 30 this year, compared to $138.3 million investment in the first six months of 2004, a year which saw an overall amount of foreign direct investment worth $460.4 million, the New Age daily reported Tuesday.The data compiled in the latest survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bank showed that the inflow of foreign investment covered equity capital of $247.3 million, reinvestment earnings of $140.8 million and intra-company loans of $65.6 million.

The government's investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment, intends to increase the inflow of foreign direct investment to about $800 million in 2005, which will end in about two weeks.

The target of investment inflow into the country for the next year is estimated at $1 billion and the board is more optimistic about achieving the target, considering the interest shown by India's Tata group, UAE's Dhabi Group and other firms from around the world to invest in Bangladesh.

The country received foreign direct investment amounting to $79 million in 2001, $52 million in 2002, $268 million in 2003 and $460 million in 2004, showing a higher growth in foreign investment in recent years. Economists, however, fear that the recent spate of terror attacks might adversely impact FDI.

Meanwhile, despite the confrontational politics and Islamist militancy, Bangladesh has been listed among the "Next Eleven" by Goldman Sachs in the list of 'next generation of nations with promising economic growth potential'.Bangladesh has found itself in line with Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Vietnam, Philippines and, more importantly, South Korea and Mexico after the US-based investment banking and securities firm described Brazil, Russia, India and China as the economic powerhouses of this century, calling them BRIC.

"Economic potential being realised in Pakistan and Bangladesh will have important consequences since it will interest both countries in investing in peace and stability, rather than confrontation," Goldman Sachs observed.

When asked for his comment on the latest foreign investment inflow, the Executive Chairman of the Board and also Energy Advisor, Mahmudur Rahman, said the interest of foreign companies in investing in Bangladesh has proved that it has become an attractive investment destination.

"This is the result of consistent macro-economic stability, facilitative action taken by the Board of Investment and aggressive promotion by the government," he said, expressing "high hopes" that inflow of foreign direct investment in the coming years would be much higher than in recent years.

Bangladesh: Development Issue

Bangladesh: impressive progress in economic and social sectors

Since independence Bangladesh has made some remarkable progress in a number of economic and social sectors. In particular, the country’s economic and social development during the past decade has been quite impressive by most measures. The country is progressing well in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs articulate the solemn obligations and commitments of the government to improve the economic and social lives of the people as fast as possible. These goals have been planned to be achieved by the year 2015. The failure to make reasonable progress in achieving the goals and targets enunciated in the MDGs will be considered as the failure of political leadership in the country.

The advent of democracy since the fall of president Ershad in January 1991 saw a series of economic reforms put in place by successive governments with greater macroeconomic stability, a move towards trade liberalisation, structural reform and economic deregulation. All these have resulted in a significant increase in the rate of growth in gross domestic product (GDP), with an average growth of more than 5% per year.

Faster economic growth has helped the country to reduce the poverty rate to a large extent since 1990. In fact, since independence Bangladesh “has achieved a positive development record in the face of extremely weak initial conditions, virulent and often times violent politics, fragile institutions and poor governance, frequent large-scale destruction by natural calamities, and the negative global image generated by these”. So the level and pace of economic and social development achieved so far are something to reckon with.

In Bangladesh, prospects for continued high economic growth of 5-6 per cent per annum over the next few years are good in view of current macroeconomic stability, reasonable savings and investment rates and the pace of economic reforms being pursued by the government. According to a recent World Bank assessment (Bangladesh PRSP Forum Economic Update, November 2005), the country’s economic growth could accelerate to 7-8 per cent if the government scales up its efforts to reduce regulatory costs, address infrastructure constraints (especially ports and power), deepen and improve the efficiency of the financial sector, improve labour quality, and further lower trade barriers.

Progress on many social measures has been encouraging. Primary enrolment for both genders is almost universal, and the secondary enrolment rate has more than doubled since independence. Bangladesh has already met the Millennium Development Goal on gender parity in school enrolment at secondary and primary levels. After Sri Lanka, Bangladesh is the only country in South Asia to have achieved this parity in education enrolment on gender basis.

The child mortality rate has halved, and life expectancy has increased by more than 15 years since independence. Another success in social sectors in Bangladesh is the significant and rapid decline in infant and child mortality rates. Infant mortality rates have declined from140 to 60 per thousand live births between1972 to 2000 while child mortality rates from 95 to 30 during the same period of time. The decline in infant and child mortality rates has been among the fastest in the developing world. Given the current rate of progress, Bangladesh and Maldives will be the only South Asian countries to achieve their MDGs of reducing infant and child mortality by the year 2015.

Population growth rate has also declined to a great extent, coming down to 1.5 per cent by mid-1990s. Women in Bangladesh have experienced vast improvements in their health during the past few decades due, in part, to an increased nationwide commitment to family planning and population control. In the early 1970s, very few women used any form of contraception to prevent pregnancy. Since that time, the contraceptive usage rate has skyrocketed from 3% to 54%. Likewise, the total fertility rate has declined from 6.4 to 3.3 children per woman. Women also get reproductive health services provided by the government medical centres and NGOs.

Today, family planning measures are widely used in Bangladeshi and women have taken a lead role in choosing the family size. The social stigma attached to the use of contraceptive has long gone, and through education, awareness, motivation, outreach, and commitment, contraception has become rather a social norm. As a result, women in Bangladesh are having smaller families and are now better able to fully participate in the communities and society.

Bangladesh has nearly achieved the safe water goal, with 97% of the population having access to pathogen-free water. Although Bangladesh has often started from a low base, it has achieved some notable success both in terms of the rate of progress and actual development outcomes compared to its neighbours as indicated by the table below.

Selected World Development Indicators:

Country Decrease in child mortality 1990-2000 (%) Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births) Decrease in fertility rates 1990-2003 (%) Increased access to primary education 1990-2000 (%) Child immunisation rates for DPT (%) Proportion of women employed in labour force (%)

Bangladesh -52 380 -29 59 85 68

India -29 540 -24 4 70 45

Pakistan N/A 500 -22 N/A 67 39

Nepal -29 740 -23 19 78 58

Source: World Development Indicators, World Bank, 2005
N/A = Data not available

It is apparent from the above table that on all six measures of social development Bangladesh has outperformed India, Pakistan and Nepal. The negative image of Bangladesh in terms of political violence, poor governance and corruption often suppresses the achievements the country has gained over the years in economic and social sectors.

The success of women in terms of education, training, employment and income-earning activities is very impressive. Women in both urban and rural areas are now heavily engaged in social, economic and cultural life in the society. Many barriers to women’s participation in the society have been removed in the last two decades, facilitated by both government and non-government organisations. This has made significant contribution to women’s emancipation in Bangladesh.

Micro credit is an area where Bangladesh has achieved outstanding success compared to many other developing countries in the world. The country is now known as the “motherland of micro credit”. According to the current estimates, about 15,000 NGOs, large and small, are registered with the NGO Bureau in Bangladesh. 9 million households have accessed the different kinds of micro credit, which has largely helped poverty reduction in the country, especially in rural areas.

Women have taken advantage of micro credit provided by different organisations such as Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (an agency providing funding to government and non-government agencies engaged in implementing micro credit programs and projects).

In general, people in Bangladesh are resilient, flexible and adaptable. They are eager to change for the better if they are given opportunities. People understand the benefits of change and transformation and have a “will to develop” even under adverse circumstances. The remarkable success the country has achieved so far in different economic and social sectors reflects the indomitable spirit of the masses to move forward towards higher levels development, even under difficult political climate.

Bangladesh and ICT sector

Bangladesh achieves huge growth in IT export

Bangladesh has witnessed 600 percent export growth in the information technology (IT) sector during the last five years. The Financial Express reported on Thursday that the total amount of IT exports increased from 2.24 million US dollars in fiscal 2000-01 (July 2000-June 2001) to 12.68 million dollars in fiscal 2004-05.

According to the daily, out of the 12.68 million dollars, 9.64 million dollars came from software export and rest of the amount came from data processing and computer consultancy.

President of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Service (BASIS) Sarwar Alam was quoted as saying that he believed that such a growth rate would continue in the coming years.

He substantiated his point by saying that there had been a number of joint venture cooperation contacts between some Danish companies and Bangladeshi software firms for exporting software and IT services to the European market, which would keep the growth rate at present level.

A number of big software companies are in the process of opening up their own marketing office in North America and Europe, the daily said.

Besides, the local market-based companies are focusing on process and quality improvements in line with international requirements and a good number of e-governance and e-commerce based domestic work orders are also expected.

"The recent trends indicate that the industry has reached a take-off stage and in the coming years it is poised for high growth," Sarwar was quoted as saying.

But to get take-off, the industry now needs more IT-skilled professionals and establishment of institutional credit as per work orders with maximum 5 percent interest, he said.

The market size of the total Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry in the country is estimated to be approximately 11 billion taka (about 169 million US dollars) per year not including the telecom sector.

At present, more then 50 software and IT service companies are exporting their services to 30 countries in the world including the United States, Canada, EU countries, Middle East, Japan, Australia, South Africa and some of the South East Asian countries.

It is estimated that around 5,500 software professionals are employed in more than 300 registered software firms in the country.

Law and Order situation

Most people unhappy with Law and Order situation

Some 45.17 per cent people surveyed are not happy with the present law and order situation while 25.55 per cent mentioned it as unbearable.

It was revealed in a survey conducted by Society of Justice (SOJ) among 321 respondents selected randomly covering major districts of the country in October-November, 2005. Only 29 per cent people said they are happy with the law and order to some extent.

AKM Saifullah of Bangladesh Institute of Law & International Affairs (BILIA) disclosed the findings of survey in an international seminar on 'Rule of Law and Human Rights' held Tuesday in the BILIA auditorium.

The seminar was presided over by SOJ President Prof. Mizanur Rahman while former chief adviser of caretaker government Justice Habibur Rahman was present as the chief guest.

Deputy High Commissioner of Australian High Commission Richard Rodgers, Third Secretary of European Commission , Dhaka Ms. Jenny and Programme officer, ICCO-The Netherlands Nellie van der Pasch addressed the seminar as special guests.

Justice Murray Kellam, Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia presented a paper on 'Human Rights Protection-the Rule of Law'.

In his presentation Murray discussed the rule of law compared with the rule by law, separation of powers, independence of judiciary and dwelt on UN General Assembly Resolution on Independence of the Judiciary, 1985.

Murray said separation of powers must be guaranteed constitutionally and sufficient resources must be provided to the courts to ensure that they are truly independent.

It was disclosed in the seminar that 69.47 per cent respondents have seen the reason for deterioration of law and order in the country as a political one.

It has also came out from the survey that 90.97 per cent respondents think that rule of law is a prerequisite for having a good society while 73.21 per cent respondents have considered that responsible persons are not playing their due role in establishing the rule of law.

Justice Habibur Rahman said enacting new laws are important but it alone is not a sufficient condition to solve the problem experienced by the society.

The aim should be the best use of available laws, which 'we have failed', he added.Ms. Neille said the young people are always the hope of the nation as they proved during the Liberation War. She expressed the hope that the young generation would solve the prevailing problems of the country.

Ms. Jenny said the European Commission always encouraged democratic practices and enforcement of human rights in the country and will continue to do so.

The speakers have raised questions about the delay in judicial process, recruitment of judges and magistrates and asked all concerned to raise their voice against 'lawlessness' in the country.

Financial Education Summit 2005

Call for blending micro credit with financial education

The Financial Education Summit 2005 began in Kuala Lumpur yesterday with a call for integrating micro credit programs with financial education to help expedite poverty reduction in Asia Pacific.

More than 250 delegates from 30 countries are participating in the two-day summit jointly organized by Citigroup and INSEAD at Prince Hotel with representatives from private, government, academic and non-government organizations (NGOs).

Speaking at the inaugural session, Donald J Johnson, secretary general of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said good financial education can provide individuals with good life-long skills and habits to enable them to work sensibly in financial markets.

Ashok Vaswani, Citigroup CEO for Consumer Banking in Asia Pacific, said it is imperative that corporations, policy makers, practitioners and advocates collaborate closely to enhance the economic well-being of individuals, across all age groups, backgrounds and income levels.

"This financial education summit underscores our commitment to financial education regionally and globally," he added.

The Citigroup Foundation focuses its grants primarily on three areas: financial education, educating the next generation, and building communities and entrepreneurs, Vaswani explained.

Later, at the panel discussion on 'Increasing Financial Literacy in Low Literacy Communities', Dr Mostaq Ahmmed, a micro finance specialist, explained how micro finance is playing a key role in poverty reduction in Bangladesh. "The day we start micro finance, we start micro finance education," he said.

Bangladesh has started integrating micro credit with financial education much earlier, which is one of the reasons for making micro credit programs successful in Bangladesh, said Mostaq, who is also the director of Training and Technical Support of Paris-based Planet Finance and a former top executive of one of leading Bangladeshi NGOs.

In fact, integrating micro finance with financial education can build social capital more successfully and minimize risk, he said adding that women borrowers are playing the key roles in the micro credit programs in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is now trying to develop human resources to train officers for the NGOs so that these organizations can integrate micro credit programs with financial education more successfully, Mostaq said.

INSEAD is widely recognized among the world's top-tier business schools as one of the most innovative and influential one. It is the only business school with full-fledged campuses in Asia and Europe.

HIV/AIDS Situation of Bangladesh

Although Bangladesh continues to be a low prevalence area, it is surrounded by high prevalence countries (High prevalence of HIV/AIDS in neighboring India). We however must not adopt a complacent attitude in respect as our country has all the determinants for an explosive outbreak of HIV/AIDS epidemic. Curses of poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, proximity of Bangladesh to the so-called 'Golden Triangle' & high prevalence of STDs, make our country seriously vulnerable.

Drug use increases the HIV risk and can start very early-for example, glue-sniffing by youngsters living or working on the streets. The danger of becoming infected with HIV by sharing injecting equipment is well known, and real.

Unemployment, slum housing, family fragility, frequent cross-border movement of people, lack of information, unsafe blood transfusion, physical and sexual abuse-that create a "risk environment" of violence for many young people in the region. In addition increased number of migrant workers, unsafe practice in health service, unsafe sex practice etc. movement of population, less use of condom, polygamy, homosexuality, extra-marital relations, further increases the susceptibility.

In Bangladesh, the intravenous drug users (IDU) are the most potential carriers of HIV/AIDS among the vulnerable groups in the country. The fourth round of national HIV and behavioural surveillance report showed that the HIV infection rate among the injection drug users (IDUs) is now 4 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent previously which is just short of the 5 per cent mark of a concentrated epidemic. About 93.4 per cent IDUs in central Bangladesh admitted that they share same syringe while taking drugs. Even they use the same syringe several times for taking drug.

UNCDP estimates that between 500,000 and 1,00,000 people in Bangladesh are addicted to drugs. Although HIV rates are comparatively lower (one per cent) among the sex workers but Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) rates are still quite high (20 per cent) among this group.

On the other hand, brothel-based female sex workers in Bangladesh report the highest turnover of clients than anywhere in Asia (an average of 18.8 clients per week).

Meanwhile, most of the people of country are unaware about the deadly disease. The 1999-2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey found that only 31 per cent of married women and 50 per cent of newly married men had heard of AIDS. Over 90 per cent of rickshaw pullers could not identify a single method of HIV prevention.

About 13,000 to 17,000 people are living with the incurable virus in Bangladesh, according to the UNAIDS report 2001. According to the National AIDS Committee and surveillance team members and experts, the rate is quite alarming as it remains one per cent less than the highest five per cent HIV epidemic index. The rate of HIV/AIDS remains less than one per cent among the other vulnerable groups -- truckers, migrant workers, gay, hijras (hermaphrodites), professional blood donors, heroin smokers and, hotel, brothel and street based commercial sex workers.

Bangladesh is bordered with India, the second largest HIV infected country in the world; the country is therefore at high risk for the HIV epidemic, said Morten Giersing, UNICEF's country representative.

Bangladesh and Microsoft 2

The Bill Gates nobody knows

Harun ur Rashid*

Bill Gates -- Microsoft Chairman and Chief Architect -- during his short visit to Bangladesh on Monday, December 5, announced that Microsoft will train over 10,000 teachers and 200,000 students in information technology in Bangladesh in the next three years, and he has already donated $100,000 to this end. He and his wife Melinda Gates were on their first visit to Bangladesh as part of their weeklong visit to the region.

Bill Gates set up Microsoft in 1975 and since then both Microsoft and Bill Gates became astonishingly wealthy. He is the richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine and has about $56 billion. He is the owner of Microsoft that has captured 94 per cent of software business in personal computers sold around the globe. Microsoft has market capitalisation of $227 billion (nearly five times the GDP of Bangladesh).

In the league of philanthropists

Very few know of Bill Gates' humanitarian side. He is the biggest philanthropist in the world. He and his wife Melinda established a foundation that donates money to many research organisations in the developing world.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has an endowment of $28.8 billion. By comparison, the Ford Foundation -- the next biggest -- has assets of about $10 billion. Since 2000, the Gates Foundation has donated $7.5 billion.

Bill Gates joins other philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Ted Turner.

Andrew Carnegie (born in Scotland and settled in America) was the 19th and 20th century steel tycoon. He gave away, during his time, $500 million (more than $10 billion in today's money) and was particularly interested in libraries, adult education, and research on peace. "A man who dies rich dies disgraced. You can't take it with you," he once said.

The oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller was such a great philanthropist that he gave away about $900 million. He established the University of Chicago, Rockefeller University in New York, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The auto industry tycoon Henry Ford founded the Ford Foundation. His great-grandson donated $10 million this year to the Vedic Planetarium in India for the Society of Krishna Consciousness.

Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, pledged $1 billion in five years to the UN. He has now turned his attention towards the environment.

Donations by Bill Gates

The Gates Foundation spends most money in the developing world, especially in Africa, fighting diseases, such as Aids, tuberculosis, and malaria. In July this year, Gates gave $450 million for funding research projects such as childhood vaccines that do not require refrigeration, needles, or multiple doses, and finding new ways of preventing insects transmitting malaria that infects 500 million people each year.

In October this year, the Gates Foundation gave a further $258 million to fight malaria, making this grant equivalent to more than three-quarters of the total global spending on research into the disease. In essence he has been funding into areas that big pharmaceutical companies should do.

In America, he pours money into Internet access for libraries and an education programme that has funded about 750 new high schools, as well as a similar number of existing schools.

Despite being one of the biggest believers in capitalism, Gates does not believe that answer to every problem is the market. "One thing that it does not work well on is if you have diseases that only exist in countries that are very poor," he said.

Gates has spoken often about inequality and lack of opportunity, which underline both his health and education initiatives.

It has been reported that Gates donated $1 million to Brac a few years ago, and with that money Brac has established the School of Public Health within the Brac University. It awards MPH (Masters of Public Health) degrees to students, both foreign and Bangladeshi nationals. Students who are eligible for admission get full scholarship.

Why do some rich men give away money?

Individuals ordinarily become successful and rich through cut-throat competition. They are determined to ensure their competitors do not have a chance against them. Such people are driven by sheer motivation of getting rich and making millions.

Again, these very people who are able to take harsh decisions in relation to their business interests, have a softer side towards humanity. Andrew Carnegie once said, "It is the mind that makes the body rich. There is no class so pitiably wretched as that which possesses money and nothing else."

Others have said that it is the social conscience that pricks them when they see so much disparity between rich and poor. Bill Gates once said, "I decided at a very early stage that whatever wealth I had I would want to give back to society."

There are fewer prominent humanitarians than there once were. Certainly, there are far fewer philanthropists on the grand scale, not because there is less money or need but because the world has changed, people have become individualist and greedy.

There is a saying that you do not judge a book by its cover, so do not judge a person by the public face that the media publishes. A humanitarian or philanthropist is one who is devoted to promoting human welfare. Bill Gates certainly comes within that definition.

>> Barrister Harun ur Rashid is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.

Warid Telecom

UAE Telecom Company to operate in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BRTC) has decided to award the country's sixth mobile phone operation license to Warid Telecom International LLC of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The 40th board meeting of the regulatory commission approved the offer from Warid, a concern of UAE's Dhabi Group, the New Age daily reported Tuesday.

Omniah of Jordan was the other bidder competing for the license, but its offer was not accepted.Dhabi group, the owner of Warid, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Board of Investment in September to invest around $1 billion in various sectors in the country including telecom, tourism and pharmaceuticals.

The regulatory commission had invited proposals on Oct 5 from Bangladeshi companies, joint ventures with local partners or overseas companies with 100 percent foreign investment to set up, maintain and operate GSM telephony for general public use.

The objective of the invitation was to ensure reasonably priced, reliable, competitive and market-based mobile phone environment with a view to improving tele-density in the country. "The commission will award the license to the company after finalizing the procedures," said the official.

The license will be given for an initial period of 15 years, covering the entire country. After that, it may be renewed by the commission subject to satisfactory performance. Warid in 2003 bought a GSM mobile license in Pakistan through auction for $291 million.

Currently, there are around 7.5 million mobile users in Bangladesh provided for by five mobile operators - GrameenPhone, Aktel, BanglaLink, CityCell and the state-owned TeleTalk. Industry insiders said that Bangladesh was likely to see around 17 million subscribers by the end of 2007.

Please don’t call or email me for Warid Telecom. Directly contact them at: Warid Telecom International L.L.C. Address: 168, Gulshan Avenue, Gulshan 2, Dhaka 1212, Phone: 8834551, 8834552, E-Mail: hr@waridtel.com.bd website: www.waridtel.com.bd

Bangladesh and Microsoft

Bangladesh wins Microsoft IT help

The world's largest software company, Microsoft, has agreed to train thousands of students and teachers in Bangladesh in information technology.

Microsoft's founder and chairman, Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda, oversaw the signing of the agreement in Dhaka.

Bangladesh education minister Osman Faruque told the BBC that 10,000 teachers and 200,000 students would be trained over the next three years and has already donated $100,000 to this end.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed yesterday during a 12-hour visit by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Architect Bill Gates to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's IT industry exported $7m in software and services last year. Most of the exports went to the US, Canada, Japan and Europe. Experts say the figure is likely double this year.

"I am pleased to see such progress to bridge the digital divide and grow the software industry in an emerging market like Bangladesh," Mr Gates said in a statement. Bill Gates met Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, had a roundtable discussion with the ministers for education, information, finance, commerce, science and ICT, communications, and home affairs, and some senior leaders of trade bodies at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Commenting on his meeting with the prime minister, Bill Gates said, "I am pleased to see such a progress to bridge the digital divide and grow the software industry in an emerging market like Bangladesh. The results we are achieving here can only come through strong partnerships between industries and the government."

Feroz Mahmud, country manager of Microsoft Bangladesh, and Abdul Aziz, education secretary, signed the three-year agreement, which aims to increase access to and build capacity for the use of ICT by educators and students. The Microsoft chief walked into the room with a mild smile in his face to witness the signing ceremony also attended by a number of ministers and secretaries.

"Here in Bangladesh, we aim to train over 10,000 teachers and over 200,000 students over the next three years. We have also donated a sum of $100,000 in cash grants," Bill Gates told the ceremony. "We have also rolled out 'Unlimited Potential' programme in partnership with Learn Foundation where community ICT training is provided to a target of 2,000 disadvantaged youths each year.

"In addition, alliances were also established with 10 leading universities in Bangladesh to deliver the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA) where teachers and students will have easier access and exposure to the latest software and technology at affordable prices," Bill Gates mentioned.

The Microsoft Partners in Learning programme comprises three distinct programmes -- the PL grants, fresh start for donated PCs, and PL school agreement. Under this programme, Microsoft is providing technology access and skills-based training to primary and secondary-level schoolteachers and students in developing countries around the world. So far, 100 countries have taken part in the PL programme reaching over 10.2 million students.

Bangladesh is the 101st country to be enlisted in this programme. Microsoft Bangladesh is a joint venture of the Microsoft Corporation and Bangladesh's Square Informatix and is operating in the country since June last year. Bill Gates yesterday visited different projects of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), popularly known as Cholera Hospital, including a field site at Kamalapur.

He visited the pneumonia surveillance network located in the urban slum in Kamalapur at 8:00am. Microsoft has already announced a grant of $15 million for Asian Women's University in Chittagong. On the agreement, the minister said, "The ball is now in our court -- the future of this agreement depends on our performance.

This was his first visit to Bangladesh as part of his weeklong visit to the region. He left for India last night.

UN Foundation

Dhaka hosts board meeting

Dhaka is set to host the meeting of the Board of Directors of the United Nations (UN) Foundation on December 11 and 12.

The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with the historic $ 1 billion gift by the American entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner to support the UN causes and activities.

Chairman of the UN Foundation and founder of the TV channel CNN, Robert E Turner (Ted Turner) and President of the foundation, Timothy E Wirth are coming to Bangladesh on this occasion along with other directors of the foundation's board who are also world renowned dignitaries.

The big names include Director-General Emeritus of World Health Organization (WHO), Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway), Chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd., N R Narayana Murthy (India), Judge of the International Court of Justice, Hisashi Owada (Japan), Director of the Centre for History and Economic, King's College, University of Cambridge, Emma Rothschild (UK), Chair of Communidade Solidaria, Brazil's anti-poverty organization, Ruth Cardoso (Brazil), Director of Investment and Technology Promotion at the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Liang Dan (China), Chair of Foundation for Community Development, Graca Machel (Mozambique), Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General, Nafis Sadik (Pakistan), Chairman of Good Works International, Andrew Young (USA) and founder of Grameen Bank, Prof Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh).

The UN Foundation holds three board meetings in a year. At least one meeting is held in a country other than USA. Previous board meetings were held in Brazil, Mozambique, South Africa and the UK and the next one will be held in Japan in 2006.

The activities during their visit will include; board meeting, visit to Grameen Bank, river cruise and discussions with the representatives of the government, civil society, NGOs and UN bodies in Bangladesh.
They will also meet the members of the press at Hotel Sonargaon at 2:00pm on December 12.

The UN Foundation is a public charity, engaged in four primary areas of work in pursuit of its mission: grant making, strengthening UN institutions, conducting outreach efforts for educating public about UN's role and raising new funds to support UN programs.

The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world's most pressing problems and also works to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.

ACCA

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is one of the leading accountancy professional associations in the world. This is the largest and fastest growing international accountancy body in the world, with over 320,000 members and students in 160 countries. The ACCA has an extensive network of over 70 staffed offices and other centers around the world.

Brief History:

In 1904 eight people formed the London Association of Accountants, in order to provide opener access to the accountancy profession than the two existing accountancy organizations. The ACCA went through a number of mergers and amalgamations over the years. In 1984 it became the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants to reflect the fact that, a decade earlier, it had been granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation. In 1996 ACCA became the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

About the Association:

The ACCA members, who are known as Chartered Certified Accountants, are employed in the industry, the financial services, the public sector, or in public practice. With statutory recognition in the UK and Ireland, ACCA has the authority to license their members to work as registered auditors. In the UK, it also authorizes its members to undertake in solvency work. Outside the UK, ACCA are recognized under the EU's Mutual Recognition Directive and in many countries around the world.

In Bangladesh, the demand for the ACCA qualification is also increasing and a few fully qualified persons are in service in different sectors. Now British Council has become a regular exam centre. People who are interested in the profession and want to use the opportunity to join their desired career they can register themselves online at the address: www.accaglobal.com.

In other South Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, the ACCA is a recognized qualification and its demand there is very high compared to Bangladesh. By recognizing the ACCA, the business as well as the education sector is benefiting in these countries. To get the full benefit, our business sector must realize the value of this qualification. And accordingly, it has to act by recruiting more and more qualified ACCAs. If we can create more and more opportunities for our professionals, then the students, who had gone to UK to earn this qualification, will be back and the country will get better service from this fresh crop of experts.

In the UK, the difference between the ICAEW and the ACCA in relation to the job market is very little. From the salary survey, it is clear that there is no difference. Members of both the associations can engage in general practice in the audit and solvency practice. The ICAEW member can get the ICAB membership straightway, but not the one from ACCA. In our view this is not fair. We would appreciate if the ICAB authorities can sit on this issue and discuss the matter both within ICAB and with ACCA. If we can include ACCA in our list, we believe we will be benefited. Since ACCA is the most dynamic and active association, its members are in every sector of business and consultancy.

The goal of the ACCA is to be the leading global professional accountancy body in size, influence and reputation.

ACCA's Mission:

> To provide opportunity and access to the people of ability around the world and to support our members throughout their careers in accounting, business and finance;
> To achieve and promote the highest professional, ethical and governance standards;
> To advance public interest, and
> To be a global leader in the profession.

Strategic Approach:

In 2004, ACCA's's strategy, plans and operations were reviewed. As a result of this work, the ACCA's Council agreed on a new corporate strategy.

In summary, the ACCA Aims to:

> Be the first-choice qualification to people who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and management
> Provide distinctive, world-class qualifications, which secure opportunity for our students and members
> Enhance relationships with employers, governments and other key stakeholders that will help sustain demand for ACCA-trained professionals
> Retain member loyalty, encouraging members to become ambassadors to increase ACCA's influence; and

> Use our expertise to assist organizations to develop the profession.

To support this strategy, the Council has agreed on a range of key performance indicators, which will be used to measure progress against specific objectives. These cover growth, stakeholders' satisfaction and retention, efficiency and innovation. The ACCA will report annually on its key performance indicators. Both Council and the executive are committed to demonstrating accountability, providing value and developing the accounting profession.

The ACCA's Strategic imperatives are to:

> Continue focused growth, concentrating on core products and services

> Build and leverage our global infrastructure and reach;

> Engage our large and growing membership base, and

> Create a more efficient and effective organization.

For our own improvement and benefit we should recognize the ACCA qualification and take necessary steps to recognize any ACCA member. In this way, we will get more experts for our association and improve ourselves further from their service.