Public and private sectors bang their heads together to set up a platform where they can discuss the challenges to gain economic efficiency and reduce logistic costs.
To achieve the goal, a mega regional event is going to be held in Dhaka in October to discuss the possible ways so that they can become competitive in the global supply chain.
The private sector is losing millions of billions of dollars due to inefficiency is logistics operations as there is dearth of coordination among the public agencies which provide the service, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Riaz Hamidullah told Bangla Tribune.
Each South Asian countries are now increasingly recognizing it and try to address the issue at the regional level, he said.
Bangladesh along with other countries has taken an initiative to form a regional platform which can help the private sector to reduce logistic cost so that they can take position in the global supply chain.
When we talk about logistics, it includes road, rail, air, inland and maritime waterways, he said.
“All these are inter-connected but supervised by different ministries or agencies,” he said.
Citing example, he said if we consider the life cycle of a readymade garment product, it starts with procuring raw materials from internal or external source.
If the source is internal, it will use the road network to reach the factory and in case of external, both maritime and road or rail networks will be used.
“In similar manner, the product takes the old routes to reach its final destination,” he said.
The private sector is losing money due to lack of coordination among the government agencies and we are trying to bridge the gap, he said.
“For this reason, we are going to organise South Asia Maritime and Logistic Forum in Dhaka in October when leaders and representatives from governments, private sector and experts from over 20 countries will meet to address all policy and regulatoru issue,” he said.
We attended the first South Asia Maritime and Logistic Forum conference held in Mumbai where a set of recommendations were put forward to help the private sector, he said.
“We had a meeting at the shipping ministry Thursday where representatives from different ministries, agencies and private sector attended and all of us agreed to have public-private hybrid relationship to gain economic efficiency,” he added.