Bangladesh in world media this week

With the year 2020 nearly coming to an end (finally!), Bangladesh has been mentioned numerous times in world media, both in year round-up stories and stories with clear mention. 

Here are our top six picks for this week (December 19-25). It’s worth mentioning that this is the last Friday of 2020, thus the last article of the weekly series for this year. 

Robi made it to world media being the biggest Bangladeshi IPO in a decade

Robi made its debut in Bangladeshi stock market on Thursday with the initial price of Tk10 per share. And within only 12 minutes of the trade, the shares rose 50 percent to Tk15 and hit the circuit breaker. 

Even with the circuit breaker, Robi took the key index DSEX to its 16-months highest state in terms of total point. 

Bloomberg, in its report titled “Biggest Bangladeshi IPO in a Decade Surges 50% on Debut in Dhaka” reported that Robi raised Tk5.24 billion in the initial share sale. 

The company sold about 10 percent worth Tk524 million. 

Bangladesh tenders to buy 50,000 tonnes of wheat

Bangladesh’s state grains buyer issued an international tender to purchase 50,000 tones of wheat, The Economic Times reported quoting traders on Wednesday. 

Just-style’s 2020 recap mentions Bangladesh four times

Just-style, an online news and research portal for the apparel and textile industry, made a recap of their top 20 stories of 2020 titled “Top 20 news stories on just-style in 2020...“ and the name of Bangladesh popped up in that article four times.

The first mention is Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina saying that Covid-19 pandemic has had a “devastating impact” on the country’s readymade garment (RMG) sector on July 8. She also expressed concern over the growing level of job losses on the economy.

The second mention is UK value fashion retailer Primark willing to pay wages at factories with cancelled orders due to the pandemic in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The article on this was published on April  3. 

The third mention in just-style’s recap is Lost Stock’s answer to the criticism over ethics of its operation. Created by online clothing  retailer platform Mallzee in May, Lost Stock was an initiative that offered consumers a chance to purchase clothing from cancelled apparel orders from Bangladesh. It was set up to help support Bangladesh’s clothing manufacturing industry and its workers through the coronavirus pandemic. 

The fourth and last mention of just-style’s recap was British retailer Debenham,s liquidating its sourcing operation after collapsing into administration on April, causing almost 70 job loss in Bangladesh. 

Israel hopes for rapprochement with fifth Muslim country, its not Bangladesh

Israel is trying to formalise relations with a fifth Muslim country, possibly in Asia, during US President Donald Trump’s term, Reuters reported quoting an Israeli cabinet minister on Wednesday.

Israel has two countries in mind right now. While the name of the countries weren’t disclosed, it was said that one is in the Gulf and could be Oman. The other one is further to the east is a “Muslim country that is not small, but its not Pakistan”. Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis told Israel’s Ynet TV. 
The most populous Muslim country Indonesia already said last week that they will not recognise Israel as long as Palestinian statehood demands remain unmet. Malaysia also gave similar signals. 

According to the Reuters report, a foreign ministry official said Bangladesh was not interested in establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. “Our position remains the same,” he said.

Bangladesh, India finalising first bilateral rice deal in three years

Bangladesh is in its way to finalising a purchase of 150,000 tonnes of rice from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), Reuters reported on Thursday, quoting the New Delhi-based state organisation. 

This would be the first such bilateral deal in three years after floods in Bangladesh sent local prices of rice to a record high. 

India, on the other hand, is offering some steep discount to supplies from rivals Thailand and Vietnam to cut its surplus after a bumper harvest. 

The country is currently the world’s biggest rice exporter. 

Sesame Street creates Rohingya muppets

Sesame Street has created two new muppets to help deliver early years education to Rohingya children living in the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. 

According to a BBC report, Noor and Aziz, two six-year-old twins will feature in a series of educational videos made for refugee children. 

Half of the people living in the camps are children.