Urban lifestyle is the reflection of country’s overall development. The core hub of the economic development is town. But for the lack of well plans and active participation we are not getting the facility from our City. On the other side, different adverse situation is making city dwellers life hell. Decentralization and Accountability of related concern is very important in order to execute City Governance. Today 9^th June 2010, spokesmen said that in a conference which is arranged by the IBFB on “City Governance and private Sector Development in Bangladesh”. The program is chaired by the IBFB president Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury.

The former Advisor of Caretaker Government and TIB Chairman Mr. Hafizuddin Khan said, day by day the city is becoming intolerable for city dwellers and our political culture is utmost responsible at the back. That is why 8 years have been passed but the election of Dhaka City Corporation is not yet held. The conservative gesture of the city corporation which is main service provider of the city does not allow anyone beyond their own employee for Tender purpose. He emphasized on the importance of urban decentralization, transparency and accountability in order to establish active city governance.

The Parliament Standing Committee member and MP, Mr. Monwar Hossain Chowdhury said, alike develop City Governance we have to establish underground roads in order to reduce intolerable traffic in our City. He proposed to transform Dhaka city into Metro City.

Media personality Mohammad Jahangir said, there is no significant research regarding the very important issue of City Governance unlike that of Environmental Development, Corruption Prevention and other issues as such. He has called for the role of IBFB in this case.

The Former Secretary of the Local Government Ministry, Mr. Safar Raj Hossain, said that corruption is the first thing to be taken care of to improve the service quality of City Governance. In order to do this, he has emphasized on the importance of maintaining transparency and accountability of the responsible officials.

The Senior Governance Specialist of World Bank, Mr. Charles Undland, has emphasized on the administrative decentralization. By mentioning the involvement of people in city development, he said that through this, everyone will be more encouraged to play responsible roles.

The Country Director of Hunger Project, Dr. Badiul Alam Majumder said that rural development should be made certain to ensure the development of city governance. This is because, the rural areas lack adequate facilities, which in turn cause the rural people to migrate to the urban areas. This tendency is increasing day by day. It is because of this reason that he has put high importance on decentralization.

Local Government Specialist, Dr. Tofail Ahmed said that City Governance should be brought under one Unified Act. He also said that it is a misconception that the City does not have enough resources, there are enough recourses but no utilization is there.  He also mentioned that 60% of the National Budget is directly or indirectly used up for the city. He states that the City Mayor should be answerable / accountable to the Councilors. This will cause the Mayor to be more responsible towards his job.

The IBFB President, Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, said that this is an age / era of power decentralization and transparency of work. However, the amended Act regarding City Governance of 2009, which has been implemented, has greatly reduced the power of City Corporation as an elected body. This lack of terms of official commissioner in constituting the Corporation has made this local body a toothless tiger. The Act of City Corporation that has been implemented in the National Parliament in 2009, especially Clause 12, has directly cut down the power of elected Mayor and Councilors of City Corporation.

Other guests who has delivered their speeches in the program are: the Former Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Mr. Abdul Majid, the Former Chairman of Security Exchange Commission Mr. Faruk Ahmed Siddiq, Former Secretary S. M. Johurul Islam, the DMD of Dhaka WASA Mr. Mahbubur Rahman, the Additional Chief Engineer of LGED Mr. Nazmur Hassan, the Managing Director of Midas Abdul Karim etc. The IBFB Research Director Dr. A. B. M. Mofizur Rahman has presented the Research Paper in the program.

Vietnam wants to buy Garments Accessories from Bangladesh. As Bangladesh has good position in exporting readymade garments, for that this country is interested to import Readymade Garment fabrics such as button, yarn, and carton. They are also interested to invest in agro based processing industry. On the other hand, Malaysia has shown interest to import industrial goods produced in Bangladesh such as Garments, Medicine, Jute products, leather and leather products, ceramic etc. After finishing a weeklong visit in Vietnam and Malaysia the leader of the Trade Delegate team and IBFB’s president Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury has informed that.

He said, by this visit a huge opportunity has been created to use trade facilities through private initiative. To explain his experience of Vietnam and Malaysia visit he said, Vietnam’s Businessmen do not know much about Bangladesh. This is the first visit of any trade delegate team of Bangladesh to Vietnam and has created a scope among Businessmen and entrepreneurs of these two Countries to know each other. During this visit the vice minister of Industry and Trade of this country Ms Mo Thi Kim Thoa and Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and industry - VCCI’s President Pham Gia Tuk have expressed their feeling strongly to provide necessary support to extend the bilateral business relationship with Bangladesh.

IBFB’s Trade Delegate team has visited Malaysia after finishing the visit to Vietnam. Yesterday, 7^th June they have attended several meetings with top leaders of Malaysia Industrial Development Authority, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kuala Lumpur & Selangor, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and Malay Chamber of Commerce. In these meetings discussion are held on the issues of mutual trade support and exchangeable areas of both countries. Apart from the exportable products of Bangladesh, the Malaysian Businessmen also expressed their positive commitments as to how the edible oil, refined petroleum, fibers, fertilizers, cements, fabrics, steel, iron etc. can be imported to Bangladesh at an inexpensive rate. He expressed optimism by saying that through this trip, the business relationship of Bangladesh with these two friendly nations will be expanded.

By referring to these meetings, the IBFB Representative Team’s Leader said, , IBFB has arranged this visit on their own expenses from the incentive of increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the economic development of the country. One of the noticeable features of this visit was that, apart from official meetings, business related one-on-one meetings have also taken place among the businessmen of the two nations with the visiting businessmen. During these meetings, the Bangladeshi team of businessmen suggested that some of the sectors should be given preferences over the others. Those are: textile & garments, real estates, automobile & motorbikes, steel & iron, agro-based industry etc.

It is necessary to mention that in this week long visit of 1-7 June; IBFB’s business representative team was led by the President of the forum and Former Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation and Member of the Parliament Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, HE Mr. Robert McDougall, inaugurated the extended facilities of the International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) on 6 April, 2010. The expansion has resulted in IBFB obtaining a larger Conference Room along with more office space for its ever expanding staff and officials.In his speech, the High Commissioner said that Canada can play an important role in helping Bangladesh secure energy and food security.

The International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF), managed by the International Finance Corporation, in partnership with the U.K. Department for International Development and the European Union on Sunday, 28 March 2010. Under the agreement, BICF will provide technical assistance to assist IBFB in strengthening its ability to research and advocate for the implementation of business reforms that can open up new opportunities for Bangladesh.