Consider Bangladesh while charting outsourcing, investment strategies

Delivering a speech at an international seminar on "Ascend 2004" organised by the Council of Women World Leaders at Manhattan here on Wednesday, she praised the US policies benefiting Bangladesh by way of assisting economic development, "proving its time-tested friendship and reliability as a strong and dependable partner."

Hasina, however, said: "A slight shift in USA's policies, not to mention new ones, political or economic, domestic or international, has a reverberating effect world over.

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"Therefore, the USA today needs to contemplate seriously its policies and their repercussions on the lives of the people of the world, besides its own."

"If the USA's policies benefit people across the globe, the prevailing malaise afflicting the world today could be confronted together and eliminated through joint efforts of all nations and people," she added.

Referring to the reality of globalisation, she said that in the present interdependent world "it is only realistic for developed nations especially the USA, while formulating policies, to take cognisance of the rest of the globe."

There is no doubt, she said, that most of the USA's "well thought policies" has done the world good and have left the rest of the developed world to follow the suit.

On current debate on outsourcing of jobs and investment, Hasina said outsourcing has become inevitable, real and an intrinsic part of the global economy as market forces and economies play a dominant role in the globalisation process.

The former prime minister said that during her rule Bangladesh became "one of the most open economies" among the developing countries. She mentioned package of lucrative incentives, including legal protection to investors and unrestricted repatriation of capital and profit, her government had provided to attract foreign investment in Bangladesh.

"Indeed our efforts attained fruition when Bangladesh came to be considered as a country with a window of opportunities," she said adding that the US investment sharply rose to 2 billion US dollar during her rule from paltry 25 million US dollar.

Hasina said Bangladesh also welcomed direct investment in power generation, and oil and gas exploration due to the energy sector's major role in generating rapid economic growth.

Citing positive economic indexes, including 6 per cent GDP and low inflation of 2 per cent achieved during her five-year rule, she said banks made profit, loans to industrial sector enhanced while export-import sustainability increased.

"Our policy was to allow the private sector to play a key role in our economic development… We allowed energy, power, telecommunications, civil aviation, electronic media, etc to the private sector," Hasina told the seminar.

On empowerment of women, she listed various steps taken by her past government to establish equal rights, status and dignity of women in Bangladesh through empowerment.

Hasina said she had adopted an overall policy and working plan ensuring separate quota at all level of bureaucracy, including in the police force and the armed services. Women were inducted in the cabinet, appointed Secretary and High Court judge, she added.

She also referred to various micro-credit schemes like "Ashrayan" and "One House-One Farm" by her government to ensure economic self-sufficiency of women and their participation in the nation-building activities.