Staff Reporter:
Commerce Adviser Sk. Bashir Uddin yesterday said that the base on the capacity of the country’s various institutions has been broken over the last 15 years, both in the public and private sectors.
“The development in the local industry was deterred severely while the usual competitive capacity of the market was also spoiled,” he said.
The Commerce Adviser was speaking at a seminar titled “Competition Policy in Bangladesh: Prospects, Challenges and the Way Forward” as the chief guest held at a city hotel.
Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman spoke at the seminar as special guest while Chairman of Bang-ladesh Trade and Tariff Commission Dr Moinul Khan and Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP, Bangladesh Sonali Dayaratne spoke as the guests of honor.
Bangladesh Competition Commission Chairperson AHM Ahsan presided over the event.
The seminar was jointly organized by the Bangladesh Competition Commission and the UNDP Bangla-desh, said a Commerce Ministry press release.
RAPID Chairman Dr MA Razzaque made the keynote presentation at the seminar while BIDS Director General Dr AK Enamul Haque, Bangladesh Competition Commission Member Dr Afroza Bilkis, Eco-nomic Adviser of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Isam Mosaddek and MCCI Presi-dent Kamran T Rahman spoke as panel discussants.
The Commerce Adviser noted that due to the destruction of the capacity of the institutions over the last 15 years, there was a severe imbalanced distribution of resources while it created some crony capitalism in the country which had deterred the new competitors from entering the market.
Mentioning that the capacity of the Competition Commission was also destroyed during that period, he said the country’s common people want to see the benefits of competition in their daily life. “The Com-petition Commission should have to be taken in that position,” he added.
Stressing on ensuring fair competition in the market, Bashir suggested that the Commission should take steps against those unholy businesses which are affecting the growth of small businesses side by side tak-ing tough steps against those who are amassing wealth through illegal means, evading tax and also hos-tageing the consumers.
“We need to ensure the practice of fair competition in the market and fair distribution of the country’s resources,” he added.
