The chief adviser’s special envoy on international affairs Lutfey Siddiqi on Tuesday said that the interim government is working to dismantle market syndicates at all levels to improve the business climate, and attract more investments into the country.

He also stressed the taking of necessary preparations by all the concerned stakeholders, ministries, divisions, industries and businesses to ensure the country’s smooth LDC graduation.

Lutfey made the remarks at a seminar titled “LDC Graduation: Impacts on Agro Sector, Export Diversification and The Way Forward,” held at the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) auditorium in the capital. The event was jointly organised by the ERF and the Bangladesh Agrochemicals Manufacturers Association (BAMA).

BAMA President KSM Mustafizur Rahman delivered a presentation on Bangladesh’s agrochemical production and market potential. ERF president Doulot Akter Mala presided over the function while its General Secretary Abul Kashem moderated the event.

"One of the objectives of the interim government’s economic reforms is to free the country from the clutch of ‘syndicate’," the Chief Adviser's Special Envoy added.

Lutfey alleged that after taking charge, one word "syndicate" came across him wherever he looked around although fair competition is supposed to prevail in the market.

He said that they need to deal with "syndicate" and "nexus" where economic and institutional reforms are also needed.

“However, we are graduating while our patent standards and compliance standards need to go up. Bangladesh needs to have proper fitness and thus do necessary practices,” Lutfey highlighted.

Stating that labour standards, environmental standards, green credentials are very much important and also work as enablers, he said, “The more we’ll become green and show credentials, we’ll have more market access in the post LDC period.”

He mentioned that over the last few days, they were very much focused on how to curb inflation with the concerted efforts from all including the commerce adviser and it is paying off.

Considering the geo economic location of the country, Lutfey said Bangladesh could become a hub like Dubai and Singapore if the ease of doing business is improved further while the existing market economy could be made more market economy.

He said that the government is working on how to make the Chattogram Port more efficient as it is already dealing with the highest number of containers.

“Finally our vision is to make the country as an economic hub and we’re very agile in this regard. Bangladesh is being made an attractive place for doing business,” he added.

Speaking there, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said that the chief adviser himself wants to create more jobs while it is the philosophy of the chief adviser that Bangladesh would become a manufacturing hub.

To take Bangladesh into another height, he stressed on more export diversification, adding that becoming manufacturing hub would not only benefit Bangladesh, but also the neighboring India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Shafiqul also underscored the need for properly utilizing the huge manpower of the country, taking benefits from the global trade war as higher tariffs are being imposed on products of China, Canada and Mexico, and ensuring optimum efficiency at Chattogram Port.

“If we want to make Bangladesh a manufacturing hub in true sense, then we’ll have to make Chattogram Port more efficient as more export orders depend on the efficiency of this port,” he added.

Shafiqul Alam said ease of doing business was mostly discussed on paper for the past 20 years.

“The interim government, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, is working to ensure a real and effective ease of doing business,” he said.

The BAMA President stressed the need to facilitate local agrochemical manufacturing at a lower cost to reduce import dependency.

Secretary General of the D-8 Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ashraful Haque Chowdhury also spoke at the event.