Dhaka, Sep 30 (UNB) – Syngenta Bangladesh Limited on Sunday moved to its new corporate office in the city’s Satmasjid Road, said a press release.
“We were fortunate to find such a nice and well-served space. I don’t think we could have found a better location for our team. Our new location and enhanced operational efficiencies will help us continue to grow and develop to keep pace with the changing times, allowing us to provide exceptional value and superior service along the way” said A M M Golam Towhid, Managing Director of Syngenta Bangladesh Limited.
Syngenta Bangladesh Limited’s new office is located at Green Rawshan Ara Tower, 755, Satmasjid Road, Dhanmondi Commercial Area, Dhaka.
Syngenta is the world’s leading multinational agribusiness company based in Switzerland. In Bangladesh, Syngenta is a joint venture company of Syngenta AG, Switzerland and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) of Government of Bangladesh, contributing towards country’s agricultural development for over 50 years, the release added.
Beijing, Sep 30 (AP/UNB) — China's export orders shrank in September as a tariff battle with Washington over technology escalated, adding to downward pressure on the world's No. 2 economy, two surveys showed Sunday.
The reports add to signs Chinese trade, which had held up despite U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hikes, might be weakening. That adds to pressure on an economy that already was forecast to cool due to slowing global consumer demand and lending controls imposed to rein in a debt boom.
The official China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing's monthly measure of new export orders fell to 48 from August's 49.4 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 show activity shrinking.
A separate index by a business magazine, Caixin, showed new export orders fell at the fastest rate in more than two years. The magazine said companies blamed "trade frictions" and tariffs.
Overall, the federation's monthly purchasing managers index showed manufacturing activity decelerated to 50.8 from August's 51.3. Caixin said its index fell to 50 from 50.6.
"Downward pressure on China's economy was significant," economist Zhengsheng Zhong said in Caixin's report.
The resiliency of China's $12 trillion-a-year economy until now has allowed President Xi Jinping's government to reject pressure for changes in initiatives such as "Made in China 2025" that call for state-led creation of champions in robotics and other technologies.
Washington, Europe and other trading partners say those violate Beijing's market-opening obligations.
The International Monetary Fund and other forecasters expect this year's economic growth to fall to about 6.5 percent from 2017's 6.8 percent. But that slowdown is due mostly to the ruling Communist Party's long-term efforts to steer China to self-sustaining growth based on consumer spending instead of trade and investment.
Last week, Trump stepped up pressure by raising tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. Beijing retaliated with penalties on $60 billion of American imports. Both sides already had raised duties on $50 billion of each other's goods.
The two sides have announced no plans for negotiations. China accused Trump in a report last week of bullying other countries. A deputy commerce minister said negotiations were impossible while Washington "holds a knife" of tariff hikes to Beijing's throat.
With no settlement in sight, forecasters say the conflict could trim global economic growth by 0.5 percent through 2020.
Sunday's reports gave no details on September orders from the United States, China's biggest national export market.
Sales to the United States have held up so far, rising by more than 13 percent in August. But analysts said that strength might have been due partly to Chinese suppliers rushing to beat increases in import taxes.
American officials complain Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. They worry Chinese technology initiatives might erode U.S. industrial leadership.
Communist leaders have tried to stick to long-term reform plans the ruling party says will make the state-dominated economy more competitive and productive.
Beijing has cut import tariffs and announced plans to open auto manufacturing and some other industries wider to foreign competitors. But none of their changes address the U.S. technology complaints.
Last week, Beijing announced tariff cuts, effective, Nov. 1, on 1,585 types of goods including construction equipment.
Chinese leaders should act quickly to "expand domestic demand and resolve the short-term downward pressure," economist Zhang Liqun said in the logistics federation's report.
Trade's importance to China has shrunk but it still supports millions of well-paid jobs. The United States is the destination for the highest-value Chinese exports including smartphones, industrial machinery and medical technology.
The logistics federation's employment index fell 1.1 points to 48.3, indicating workforces were shrinking.
"The employment situation worsened further," Zhong said in Caixin's report.
Toronto, Sep 30 (AP/UNB) — Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland postponed her U.N. speech as free trade talks between the U.S. and Canada intensified.
Freeland had been scheduled to deliver Canada's address to the General Assembly on Saturday in New York, but Canada exchanged the slot with another country. Freeland may or may not give the speech on Monday.
A senior Canadian government official said they are making progress in the talks but said it's not certain that they will reach a deal soon. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Canada will only sign a good deal.
Canada, the United States' No. 2 trading partner, was left out when the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement last month to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement. The U.S. and Canada are under pressure to reach a deal by the end of the day Sunday, when the U.S. must make public the full text of the agreement with Mexico.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to go ahead with a revamped NAFTA — with or without Canada. It is unclear, however, whether Trump has authority from Congress to pursue a revamped NAFTA with only Mexico, and some lawmakers say they won't go along with a deal that leaves out Canada.
Among other things, the negotiators are battling over Canada's high dairy tariffs. Canada also wants to keep a NAFTA dispute-resolution process that the U.S. wants to jettison.
U.S.-Canada talks bogged down earlier this month, and most trade analysts expected the Sept. 30 deadline to come and go without Canada being reinstated. They suspected that Canada, which had said it wasn't bound by U.S. deadlines, was delaying the talks until after provincial elections Monday in Quebec, where support for Canadian dairy tariffs runs high.
But trade attorney Daniel Ujczo of the Dickinson Wright law firm, who follows the NAFTA talks closely, said the United States put pressure on Canada, saying there would "consequences" if it didn't reach an agreement by the end of the day Sunday. Trump has repeatedly threatened to start taxing Canadian auto imports. Ujczo put the odds of a deal this weekend at 75 percent.
Relations between the two neighbors have been strained since Trump assailed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G-7 meeting in June, calling him "weak" and "dishonest." Canadian leaders have objected to Trump's decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security.
Dhaka, Sep 29 (UNB)- Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) recently signed an agreement with Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) at BREB Office.
Abu Reza Md Yeahia, Deputy Managing Director of the Bank and Md Hossain Patwary, Director of BREB signed the agreement on behalf of respective organisations.
This agreement will facilitate the members of Palli Bidyut Samity to pay their electricity bill through IBBL branches and agent banking outlets under the area of the Samity.
Md Mahboob Alam, Executive Vice President, M Zubayer Azam Helali, Senior Vice President, Nazrul Islam and Mohammed Masud Hakim Khan, Senior Assistant Vice Presidents of the Bank, Prosenjit Kumar Ghosh, Deputy Director, Md Abu Sayed Siddiquee and Md Ziauddin, Assistant Directors of BREB along with top executives and officials of both organisations were present on the occasion.
New York, Sept 29 (AP/UNB) — CBS said Friday that a New York City prosecutor has subpoenaed the company for information related to sexual misconduct allegations that led to the ouster of longtime chief Les Moonves.
The company said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it received subpoenas from the Manhattan District Attorney and New York City's Commission on Human Rights and that it is cooperating.
The state attorney general's office has also requested information, the filing said.
A CBS spokesman declined comment. The district attorney's office also declined comment. The other agencies didn't immediately respond to messages.
Moonves resigned as chairman of CBS on Sept. 9, hours after The New Yorker published a story detailing a second round of ugly accusations against him.
In total, a dozen women have alleged mistreatment, including forced oral sex, groping and retaliation if they resisted him.
Moonves has denied the allegations, though he said he had consensual relations with some of the women.
Outside lawyers hired by CBS continue to investigate allegations against Moonves and Jeff Fager, the former top executive at "60 Minutes."
Fager was fired after he texted a CBS News reporter to "be careful" when she questioned him about reports that he tolerated an abusive environment at the newsmagazine.
The lawyers' investigation is also looking into "cultural issues at all levels of CBS," the filing said.
In a regulatory filing earlier this month, CBS said it would pay Moonves a $120 million severance if that investigation fails to find any evidence of sexual misconduct.