Nepal’s billionaire tells businessmen in Dhaka
Nepal’s first billionaire Binod K Chaudhary on Friday called upon the businessmen of South Asia, particularly of smaller countries, to bring the economy at the centre stage of politics.
‘We all have to work together not only in businesses, but also, perhaps, through participation in politics in our own way as everything revolves around politics with economies at the centre stages,’ he said at a reception accorded in his honour in Dhaka on Friday night.
In March, US business magazine Forbes announced Binod Chaudhary, president and chief executive officer of Chaudhary Group as the first billionaire of Nepal.
The International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh organised the reception for his recognition by Forbes.
‘We have to bring economy at the centre stage of politics. If that doesn’t happen, we will continue to struggle ….our opportunities and our resources will remain unexploited,’ he said.
Explaining his 20-year relationship with Bangladesh that began with the formation of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1994, Binod, 1,342th billionaire of the world, described Bangladesh as his second home.
Admiring the idea of social business introduced by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, he said that the concept of social business left a long lasting impact in his mind in terms of to-do-something for the society without expecting any returns or dividends.
The group signed an agreement with the Yunus Centre to start social business in Nepal, he said.
Introducing Binod to eminent personalities attended in the programme, ICC, Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman said his grandfather Bhuramull Chaudhary was a small trader back in 1933 from where, now the group owned nearly 45 companies, diversifying its businesses into banking, food, real estate, hotel, power, electronics, construction and many other sectors.
The group, however, is familiar for its Wai Wai brand of instant noodles.
Binod, 57, who was also an elected member of the Constituent Assembly and Parliament of Nepal from 2008 to 2012, built much of his estimated $1 billion fortune overseas through his Singapore-based arm Cinnovation.
Binod hails from a business clan with Indian roots. His grandfather Bhuramull Chaudhary, a textile trader from Rajasthan, migrated to Nepal. He opened a small textile store that used to supply goods to the erstwhile rulers. Chaudhary’s father, Lunkaran Das, converted that into Arun Emporium, Nepal’s first departmental store. The eldest of 3 siblings, Chaudhary joined the business at age 18, giving up his plan to study accounting in India when his father developed a heart ailment.
Prime minister’s international affairs adviser Gawher Rizvi, BRAC chairman Fazle Hasan Abed, ICC, Bangladesh vice-president Latifur Rahman, Centre for Policy Dialogue’s distinguished fellow Debapriya Bhattacharya, senior Supreme Court lawyer Rafiq-ul Huq, FBCCI former presidents Abdul Awal Mintu and Annisul Huq, Bangladesh Employers Federation president M Fazlul Haque, BGMEA former president Anwar-Ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, and diplomats from different countries were present at the reception.
LCG plenary
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status of the laws,’ ERD secretary Abul Kalam Azad told New Age on Saturday.
The LCG working group on labour ministry worked on the labour law and now it will be placed at the plenary session, he said.
He also said the meeting would also discuss about the progress of the revised joint cooperation strategy action plan as well as review the decisions of the last LCG plenary meeting held in February 2013.
Another official involved in the process of the meeting said that the secretaries of the related ministries would illustrate details of the laws at the any next meetings of the LCG once the laws are approved by the parliament.
The government will also update the development partners about next steps the government will take related to the laws and implementation of Joint Cooperation Strategy action plan, he said.
ERD secretary and United Nations resident coordinator Neal Walker, co-chairs of the LCG, finalised the meeting’s agenda at a meeting on Thursday, he added.
The plenary session is being held at a time when the United States of America suspended GSP facility for Bangladeshi products in its market on the ground of poor labour rights and workers safety condition.
The officials said that development partners wanted to discuss about the proposed amendment to the Labour Act-2006, Audit Act and Foreign Donations Act.
‘But it was not included in the agenda as the laws are yet to be approved by the parliament,’ an official involved in agenda finalising process told New Age.
The labour law (amendment) is waiting for approval of the parliament while drafts of the two other laws still remain at preliminary stage, he said.
LCG is a forum composed of the ERD and representatives of Bangladesh-based lenders and development partners which meets regularly on different issues of foreign loan and grant disbursement and project implementation.
-With New Age input
