Political parties should include specific agenda in the election manifesto for the next general elections to facilitate business and ensure economic growth of the country, business leaders and academics said on Monday.
At a stakeholders’ meeting on upcoming election manifesto of the political parties, they said a set of issues including reduction of cost of doing business, ensuring business-friendly environment and curbing corruption needed to be addressed in the election manifestos to ensure business growth in the country.
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said political parties must include the issues of business people in their election pledges and needed to make commitment to address those issues.
‘Political parties will have to narrate specifically about what they will do for ensuring business-friendly environment as businessmen will cast vote in the next elections analysing the parties’ manifesto,’ he said at the meeting.
The International Business Forum of Bangladesh organised the meeting at its office in the capital.
Bangladesh is moving towards economic emancipation and the country will move forward further if the political parties do not destroy the pace, Akram, also a member of ruling Awami League advisory council, said.
The party which will ignore businessmen’s demand will get fewer votes of business people, he warned.
He said that Bangladesh needed deep sea port, completion of the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway four-lane project to become regional business hub and the political parties should act accordingly.
IBFB director MS Siddiqui demanded pledges from the political parties on formulating comprehensive industrial policy and finalising coal policy.
IBFB director Priti Chakraborty said the political parties should make commitment that they would not engage themselves in destructive activities during political demonstration even if they remained in the opposition.
Former commerce secretary Sohel Ahmed Chowdhury demanded an action plan for achieving 8 per cent GDP growth saying that Bangladesh could easily achieve 8 per cent growth as it had been achieving 6 per cent growth for the last 10 years amid political turmoil.
M Abul Kashem Mozumder, a professor of public administration department at Jahangirnagar University, presented a keynote paper that includes 29 issues to be addressed in political parties’ manifestos for the next elections to ensure business growth in the country.
At his 29-point issues, he emphasised on some issues like improving law and order situation, political stability, continuation of development projects to be addressed immediately.
For short-term plan, he stressed on ensuring good governance, infrastructure development including enhancement of capabilities of Chittagong and Mongla ports, quickest implementation of the Dhaka–Chittagong Highway four-lane project, Padma Bridge, reforms in energy sector, banking sector and decreasing bank interest rate.
He also sought actions for export diversification, enhancing labour based and agricultural industry, promoting small and medium enterprises, establishing deep sea port, connectivity with the Asian Highway, enhancement of rail and water transportation system and establishing exclusive economic and export processing zones on regional basis.
He urged the business community to develop a concept and transmit it to the political masters so that they could include it in their pledges.
IBFB president and Runner Group chairman Hafizur Rahman Khan presided over the meeting while IBFB founder president Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, vice-presidents Humayun Rashid and Omar Shafayat Kausar, and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry director Manjurul Haque, among others, spoke in the meeting.