Prime Minister Tareque Rahman has called for developing the country’s economic zones as green, modern and investment-friendly industrial areas, blending industrialisation with environmental protection.
He made the call on Monday (3 August) afternoon at a meeting of the governing board of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) at the Prime Minister’s Office in the Cabinet Division of the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Chaired by Prime Minister Tareque Rahman, the meeting took important decisions on expanding the country’s economic zones, boosting investment, creating jobs and protecting the environment.
The prime minister’s deputy press secretary, Md Sujauddoula (Sujon Mahmud), said that, in line with the meeting’s decisions, trees would be planted in every EPZ as part of the government’s 25-crore (250-million) tree-planting programme. Under the programme, a total of 1.25 lakh (125,000) trees would be planted in various EPZs, he said.
The initiative was taken to maintain environmental balance alongside industrialisation, increase greenery and develop the economic zones as environmentally friendly, the deputy press secretary said.
He said the meeting reviewed progress on implementing the decisions of BEZA’s 9th governing-board meeting. It also discussed establishing new economic zones, reviewing the assessment of private economic zones, and making the best use of unused state-owned industrial assets.
The meeting also reviewed the possibility of using the land and existing infrastructure of Narayanganj’s Karim Jute Mills and Latif Bawany Jute Mills for economic activity.
Emphasis was placed on attracting domestic and foreign investment, creating jobs and energising the local economy by setting up modern industry in these areas.
There was also discussion of following set guidelines for private economic zones’ applications and licences and of framing a new policy, Sujon Mahmud said.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Commerce Minister Khondaker Abdul Muktadir, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Chowdhury, Road Transport and Bridges, Railways and Shipping Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam, and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report