Page 27 - ICE BUSINESS TIMES March 2020
P. 27

Cisco on Wednesday deepened its commitment
                                                                           to accelerate Bangladesh’s digital
                                                                           transformation and showcase how digitization
                                                                           can fuel economic prosperity, global
                                                                           competitiveness and sustainable growth. They
                           CISCO EXPANDING                                 also announced that it had doubled its
                                                                           headcount and office space in Bangladesh to
                           FOOTPRINT IN                                    accommodate its expanding operations in the
                                                                           region, as well as opening a depot to serve
                           BANGLADESH                                      customers better. Bangladesh has already
                                                                           made considerable headway in digitally
                                                                           empowering its citizens, ensuring seamless
                                                                           and affordable connectivity to even the most
                                                                           remote areas, along with mobile banking
                                                                           services for higher financial inclusion.
                                                                           Additionally, the government is issuing digital
                                                                           IDs to over 100 million citizens, which allows
                                                                           them quick access to essential amenities. To
                                                                           facilitate the digitization of businesses and
                                                                           help them serve global customers, Cisco has
                                                                           introduced products specifically designed for
                                                                           small and medium enterprises that provide
                                                                           them access to simple, secure, and smart
                                                                           enterprise-class technologies.






             BAN LIFTED ON ONION

             EXPORTS
             India has decided to lift the ban on onion export to
             protect the interests of its farmers as prices in the
             domestic market are expected to fall sharply
             thanks to the bumper rabi crop. The decision was
             understood to have been taken at a meeting of a
             group of ministers headed by Indian Home
             Minister Amit Shah. Food Minister Ram Vilas
             Paswan in a tweet said the expected monthly
             harvest in March was over 40 lakh metric tonnes.
             The decision would be effective once the
             Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issues
             a notification in this regard.



                                                                     next two years due to its high potential and
                                                                     profitability, according to a survey by the Japan
                                                                     External Trade Organisation (JETRO). Some 70.3 per
                                                                     cent of the Japanese companies in Bangladesh are
                                                                     mulling expanding business in the next one to two
                                                                     years, 23.4 per cent believe their operations would
                                                                     remain the same and 1.6 per cent are pondering over
                                                                     going for a reduction. The statistics are from the '2019
                                                                     JETRO Survey on Business Condition of Japanese
                                                                     Companies in Asia and Oceania', which is yet to be
                                                                     released officially. The survey took comments of 13,458
                                                                     Japanese firms engaged in manufacturing and
                                                                     non-manufacturing sectors in 20 Asia and Oceania
                      JAPANESE FIRMS MOST                            countries between the months of August and September

                      OPTIMISTIC OF PROSPECTS                        last year. The Japanese firms in India are the next most
                                                                     sanguine ones: 65.5 percent are planning expansion.
                      IN BANGLADESH                                  Vietnam comes in third, with 63.9 percent of the
                                                                     Japanese firms there are planning expansion. It is
                      Bangladesh is the top choice for Japanese companies   followed by Pakistan at 62.5 percent. Bangladesh came
                      seeking to expand business in Asia and Oceania in the   in 5th in terms of profitability for Japanese companies.

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                                                                                                 www.ibtbd.net
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