Ctg port termed most efficient in South Asia

Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Pascal Lamy addresses a roundtable at a hotel in Chittagong city yesterday.Photo: STAR

Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Pascal Lamy yesterday said Chittagong port was considered the most efficient container port in South Asia.
“This port has held many names throughout ages but with only one real purpose--to connect this country to the outside world through trade and to serve as a conduit for other countries to connect with each other,” he said.
“The efficiency of the port has improved over the years and many consider it to be the most efficient container port in the South Asian region,” he told a discussion organised by Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry at a hotel in Chittagong city.
Lamy said during his visit to Bangladesh last year, he was overwhelmed when a lot of people insisted that he must visit the port--the heart of the economy of Bangladesh, handling more than 90 per cent of the export-import trade.
Former adviser to a caretaker government Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said Chittagong itself was an emerging trade zone and was the gateway of regional connectivity. He emphasised developing Chittagong as a regional economic hub of Southeast Asia.
The WTO chief said he was convinced that Bangladesh saw trade as a path to growth and development. His visit to Chittagong today (yesterday) and talk to representatives of the government, including the commerce minister, asserted it, he added.
He said despite some challenges, Bangladesh had made tremendous strides in the economic and social fields over the last few years, including achieving several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“As the most densely populated country in the world, you have a large comparative advantage in the provision of labour and services, but this also means a tremendous responsibility to ensure that this population has access to food, shelter and education,” he said. “Developing the agricultural sector is a necessity for food security,” he added.
Lamy said increasing production and productivity and ensuring that goods reached both the domestic and export markets should be the priorities. Using the development finance of aid for trade and foreign direct investment is one avenue to increase the efficiency of this sector, he added.
The WTO chief applauded Bangladesh's role in facilitating a greater integration of Least-Developed Country (LDCs) into multilateral trade system.
Lamy said as WTO members prepared for the ministerial meeting in Bali in December, he expected that Bangladesh would continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring that LDC issues were reflected in any input to and outcome from Bali.
Mentioning that the issue of trade facilitation could be considered in Bali, he said, “I expect that Bangladesh will consider the merits of a Trade Facilitation Agreement and will take a proactive approach in ensuring that the negotiations on trade facilitation are completed in a way that strengthens the rules, regulations and processes of 'doing trade' but which also seeks to develop a framework that provides the necessary technical assistance and capacity building to developing countries, especially LDCs.”
Former vice chancellor of Chittagong University Alamgir Mohammad Sirajuddin and CCCI President Morshed Murad Ibrahim, among others, spoke at the meeting.