Labour and Employment Adviser Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain announced on Thursday that 14 units of Beximco Industrial Park have been closed, with payments to workers set to begin from March 9. “The Advisory Council Committee met yesterday and reached this decision,” he said at a press conference addressing the labour and business situation of Beximco Industrial Park’s factories. The adviser assured that neither he nor the authorities were against the workers. “We never wanted any worker to lose their job, and we still don’t. Even in the future, we won’t wish for it,” he added. A total of Tk 525.46 crore will be required to settle the dues of 31,669 workers and 1,565 officials from the 14 closed industrial units. Payments will start on March 9. About financial challenges, the adviser said no bank was willing to provide funds. “All the banks have declined, saying they can no longer provide support. However, we have managed to arrange the required amount. InshaAllah, payments will begin on March 9, and all dues will be cleared before mid-Ramadan,” he added. Payment of Beximco workers’ dues to begin March 9 Out of the total amount, Tk 325.46 crore will come from the finance division, while the labour ministry will provide Tk 200 crore as a loan. The Bangladesh Bank will replace the funds when necessary. A committee has also been formed to determine the next steps regarding the closed units. The committee will be led by Lutfey Siddique, the Chief Adviser’s Special Envoy on International Affairs, who holds the rank of an adviser. Urging workers to remain calm, Sakhawat Hossain said, “Please do not take any protest programme that would force us to adopt stricter measures. We do not want to be tough on anyone. I also request the workers to understand the situation. You are all patriots. I have met many of you, and I will reach out to others at the appropriate time. Please do not create or allow any situation that could lead to further problems.”

The Financial Crime Unit of the CID has seized property worth approximately Tk 250 crore belonging to Salman F Rahman, vice-chairman of the Beximco Group, and individuals and organisations linked to his interests. The action is part of an investigation into allegations of money laundering through trade-based methods. Salman, Anisul, 3 others shown arrested in 4 murder cases According to CID sources, Salman F Rahman, through two companies—Apollo Apparels Limited and Kanchpur Apparels Limited—exported goods valued at $2,60,14,984 to RR Global Trading FZE, a company owned by his son, Ahmed Shahriar Rahman, located in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. These exports, conducted through 21 letters of credit (LCs) and sales contracts between 2020 and 2024, are alleged to have been part of a money-laundering scheme. Under court orders, CID seized several properties in connection with the case, including approximately 2000 decimals of land and structures in the Dohar area of Dhaka district. Additional assets seized include a flat in Dhaka’s Gulshan 2, registered under Ahmed Shahriar Rahman, who is a named accused in the case, and a duplex flat on Road No. 68/A, Gulshan. The total market value of the seized properties has been estimated at Tk 250 crore. CID files 17 cases against Salman F. Rahman, 27 others over $83 million money laundering It is noteworthy that the CID has filed 17 cases against Salman F Rahman and his associates for laundering $83 million through trade-based money laundering across multiple countries. The investigation is ongoing.

Workers of Beximco Group blocked Chandra-Nabinagar highway at Sreepur bus stand area in Ashulia, demanding the reopening of their closed factory on Wednesday. The workers took to the streets around 4pm and set fire to two buses and one truck near Mojar Mill area of Ashulia. Ashulia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nur Alam Siddique said police were deployed at the scene and the situation somewhat calmed down. Several vehicles were vandalised and journalists covering the incident were reportedly attacked during the protest. Eight DB officers injured in attack during raid in Faridpur Earlier, on Tuesday, during a rally, Beximco workers union leaders issued an ultimatum, demanding the reopening of the closed factories by 3pm on Wednesday, along with the assurance of banking services and other facilities for the workers. After no response from the authorities concerned, Beximco workers took to the streets to stage demonstration. The OC said  efforts are underway to bring those responsible for the incident to justice.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has fined 9 investors Tk 428.52 crore for manipulating the shares of Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited (Beximco) listed in the stock market. The BSEC decided to impose this fine in the commission meeting held on Tuesday chaired by BSEC Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood. Such a large amount of money has never been fined in the history of the country's stock market for manipulating the shares of a company, stock market stakeholders said. BSEC instructs DSE to investigate unusual price surge of Islami Bank shares Among them, Marzana Rahman was fined Tk30 crore, Trade Next International Tk4.1 crore, Mushfiqur Rahman Tk125 crore, Mumtazur Rahman Tk58 crore, Jupiter Business Tk22.50 crore, Apollo Trading Tk15.1 crore, ART International Tk70 crore, Abdur Rauf Tk31 crore and Crescent Limited was fined Tk 73 crore. Meanwhile, the commission meeting decided to inspect the use of IPO/RPO’s funds of 9 companies. The nine companies include- Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Best holding, Index Agro, JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing, Lub-rref (Bangladesh) Limited, Navana Pharmaceuticals, Ring Shine Textiles, Sikder Insurance and Silva Pharmaceuticals.

Tuesday’s (March 21, 2023) professional boxing ‘Fight Night’ at InterContinental Dhaka had everything – from Bangladeshi-origin UK boxer Ruqsana Begum’s debut win against Tanjila in a 10-round thriller to Sura Krishna Chakma’s nerve-wracking second-round knockout punch against Thai boxer Ponlawat Nanchinda. With her debut win, Ruqsana also secured the WBU Female Intercontinental Championship Belt, marking the first time female boxers competed for a championship belt in Bangladesh. During the 10-round thriller, Ruqsana’s professional boxing experience faced off against Tanjila’s aggressive fighting. However, it was Ruqsana — a former kickboxing world champion — who pulled-off the narrow win in the flyweight category. The professional boxing event was organized by Xcel Sports Management and Promotions. Also Read: 'Beximco XBC Fight Night' on March 21 A total of 14 participants from Bangladesh, England, France, India, and Thailand competed in the ring across seven different categories, including featherweight, light heavyweight, bantamweight, cruiserweight, flyweight, and welterweight. In the lightweight category, Bangladeshi professional boxer Sura Krishna Chakma came head-to-head against Thailand’s Ponlawat Nanchinda.

With joint investment from Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, Beximco Pharmaceuticals is set to start producing medicines in the kingdom from next year, Prime Minister's Private Industries and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman said on Saturday (March 11, 2023). Bangladesh will provide Saudi Arabia with manpower and technical support for the plant, he said while speaking to reporters after a visit to Beximco Pharmaceuticals with a delegation led by Saudi Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi. Rahman said, "We are committed to producing medicines, maintaining top quality. In terms of pharmaceutical exports, we must adhere to a variety of international procedures. This is why people around the world have trust in medicines produced in Bangladesh." “According to reports, the medicine produced in Bangladesh are of high quality. Besides, prices are also quite reasonable compared to other countries,” he added. Read more: Find ways to bring commodity prices to a normal level: PM tells business leaders Referring to the growth of the pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh, he said the industry in the country has made good progress and made a mark in the global market. “The government is setting up a pharmaceutical park. The raw materials for medicines will be produced there very soon, which will further accelerate the growth of this industry.” Saudi Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi arrived in Dhaka on Friday afternoon to attend the Bangladesh Business Summit-2023, organized by the FBCCI in the capital. Earlier on Saturday, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia had signed three MoUs in order to strengthen economic and trade relations between the two countries. Read more: Business Summit: Deals signed with Saudi Arabia, China on first day One of the agreements would allow a Saudi company to set up gas pipelines through India and Bangladesh under a public-private partnership (PPP) basis. Two MoUs were signed with Saudi Arabia for developing Rangpur Sugar Mills and Patenga Container Terminal. Later, a group led by the Saudi commerce minister visited Beximco Pharmaceuticals and met with a delegation from Beximco Pharmaceuticals. While speaking to reporters, the Saudi minister said: “Trade and investment between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have not yet reached the desired level. We will explore the trade relations between the two countries through the visit.” “We also want to harness our potential in information technology, communication, and manpower exports,” Qasabi said. Read More: Policies must to stop misuse, overuse of antibiotics: Health Minister Citing Beximco Pharmaceutical as a "world-class pharmaceutical manufacturing factory", the Saudi commerce minister said Beximco Pharmaceutical is producing medicines using all advanced technologies. Meanwhile, Nazmul Hasan Papon, managing director of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, said at least 30 types of medicines will be produced at the plant in Saudi Arabia. “Even though the plant is being constructed with joint investment from both Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, we are providing the majority of the funds,” he said. Bangladesh is currently exporting medicines to 160 countries around the world after meeting its own demand.  Read More: Fake drug manufacturing unit busted in Dhaka, 7 held According to the Directorate General of Drug Administration, the export of medicines in the 2021–22 fiscal year was US$ 188.78 million.

Beximco Digital Distribution has signed a deal with Disney Star to distribute eight of their popular entertainment television channels across Bangladesh via paid television service through cable, IPTV, and OTT. The collaboration will see Beximco Digital distribute Disney Star's channels in the original languages of programming (Bangla, Hindi, and English) spanning three content genres – general entertainment, movies and factual or infotainment. READ: Binimoy says it can put an end to illegal digital transactions The channel portfolio will include Star Jalsha, Jalsha Movies, Star Plus, Star Gold, Star Bharat, National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Wild and Fox Life. "Bangladesh has a strong affinity for our content, especially the Bangla series and format shows on our class-leading Bangla general entertainment channel – Star Jalsha. We constantly explore opportunities to connect with our audiences and this latest collaboration with Beximco Digital is a step to further reach out to the viewers in Bangladesh," Sudhir Nagpal, head of international business at Disney Star, said. READ: US-Bangla adds one more Boeing 737-800 to its fleet Tariq Alam, executive director of Beximco Digital Distribution, said: "The government's mandate to digitise cable networks will bring a significant transformation to the TV industry. This will enable more secure ways of distribution of content, ensure a best-in-class experience to audiences across the country, contribute to economic growth and benefit the National Board of Revenue." Through this collaboration, Beximco Digital will be the first distributor in Bangladesh to take broadcasting services from Bangabandhu Satellite-1 for the uplink of foreign television channels.

The Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited (BSCL) has signed an agreement with Beximco Digital Distribution Limited (BDDL) under which BDDL will use Bangabandhu Satellite-1 (BS-1) to distribute eight foreign clean-feed pay TV channels in Bangladesh. With this agreement, BDDL will be the first and the only foreign pay TV channel distributor to avail of downlinking services from BS-1, according to a media statement. Md Shafiqul Islam, managing director of BSCL, and Jamanul Bahar of BDDL signed the deal in Dhaka Thursday. "The most predominant form of TV distribution is currently through millions of analogue cable connections which have no protection for consumers, limited capacity to carry channels, poor picture quality, lack of service, lack of addressability and no interactive services and critically rampant with piracy related to the TV channels which leads to the government deprived of substantial taxation income and lower revenues for broadcasters," Shayan F Rahman, chairman of BDDL, said. "The conversion from analogue to digital television broadcasting will provide newer and more secure ways of distribution of content which include cable, IPTV, OTT and DTH," he added. Read more:Star channels are now available in AKASH DTH

Beximco Pharma has got a sub-licence from the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool to produce a generic version of Paxlovid, Pfizer's oral treatment for Covid. Beximco will manufacture this drug – a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir – in Bangladesh following successful technology transfer and manufacturing regulatory approvals. Nirmatrelvir is a novel main protease inhibitor that specifically blocks the activity of the enzyme needed for SARS-CoV2 viral replication. Read: Raise awareness about consumers’ rights: Tipu Ritonavir is a strong cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 inhibitor and pharmacokinetic boosting agent for nirmatrelvir. Paxlovid got the emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration in December 2021 for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older). The sub-licence was granted under a voluntary licencing agreement between Pfizer and Medicines Patent Pool to facilitate broader global access to this antiviral combination. Read South Sudanese delegation visits Beximco, Pran-RFL, Walton manufacturing units On 20 January 2022, Beximco got a sublicence from Medicines Patent Pool to produce another Covid drug, molnupiravir, which was developed by MSD and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Beximco Pharma Managing Director Nazmul Hassan said: "We are delighted that Medicines Patent Pool has granted us a sub-licence to produce Pfizer's breakthrough Covid-19 treatment, which builds on the licence granted to us in January 2022 for the production of molnupiravir."

Two years after the government opened the prepaid gas metre market to the private competition, none has been able to enter the fray due to lack of enough preparation.  The government’s policy, announced in 2019, initially got enthusiastic response.  Many local and foreign companies came forward to enter the lucrative market with import, development, manufacturing, marketing and supply of smart prepaid gas metre for consumers.  Read:Erratic gas supply hits hard residents at Demra, neighbouring areas None of these companies has so far succeeded in their ventures. Officials at the state-owned Petrobangla, responsible for setting the standard and technical specifications for the metres, said they are still hopeful about the arrival of the private sector. “Already a good number of companies made demonstrations of their metres and those were enthusiastic. We hope they will be able to meet our standard and technical specifications and finally come to the market”, said Habib Uddin Ahmed, general manager (engineering), and head of the technical committee of the Petrobangla. Read  HC rules on govt decision to not provide new household gas connections He, however, said it takes some time to meet our compliances as the things are new and such ventures involve huge investment. Many of the companies are studying the market first and then they will either move for importing metres or setting up plants to manufacture locally. So they need time for their preparation, he added. Sources said local Beximco and Bangladesh Smart Electrical Company Ltd., a joint venture of West Zone Power Distribution company and Chinese firm Hexing Electrical Co. Ltd, are among those showing interest in the business.  Read No cash or gas to run from Ida: ‘We can’t afford to leave’ They said the Energy and Mineral Resources Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources took up the move for opening smart prepaid metre market for private sector in 2019. After a long discussion with the stakeholders, it published a gazette notification on December 4 in 2019 setting a detailed standard, technical specifications and compliances for the smart pre-paid metres. It also invited private companies to come to the market with their own devices by taking approval from the Petrobangla. Read:Titas Gas seeks foreign funding for installing 1.25 million prepaid metres in Dhaka city