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Many faces of 'conflict of interest'
Share Shah
We usually term, conflict of interest for corruption, misuse of power. The simple and straightforward definition relates to the behaviour of a person in respect of any decision making process. A situation in which a person, a public official, an employee, or a professional, has a private or personal interest sufficient to appear to influence the objective exercise of his official duties. There are three key elements in this definition. First, there is a private or personal interest. Often this is a financial interest, but it could also be another sort of interest, say, to provide a special advantage to a relative or a friend. Taken by themselves there is nothing wrong with pursuing private or personal interests, for instance, changing jobs for more pay or helping one's child get ahead.
The problem comes when this private interest comes into conflict with the second feature of the definition-"official duty"- quite literally the duty one may have because of an office or act in an official capacity. As a professional one must take on certain official responsibilities, by which he acquires obligations to the public. These obligations are supposed to be above private or personal interests. Third, conflicts of interest interfere with professional responsibilities in a specific way, namely, by interfering with objective professional judgment. The main reason people value professionals are because they are expected to be professionals, to be objective and independent. Factors, like private and personal interests, that either interfere or appear likely to interfere with objectivity are then a matter of legitimate concern to those who rely on professionals. So it is also important to avoid apparent and potential as well as actual conflicts of interests. An apparent conflict of interest is one, which a reasonable person would think that the professional's judgment is likely to be compromised. A potential conflict of interest involves a situation that may develop into an actual conflict of interest.
It is no surprise that there is no end to the affairs of Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank who is said to have arranged a job for his Tunisian born paramour at the Department of State of the United States government at an exceptionally high salary also said to be higher than that of Ms Condoleeza Rice, the Secretary of State. This matter appears to be definitely a matter of conflict of interest. World Bank which is telling the rest of the world on how to conduct themselves seems to have been caught with pants down.
One fact truly is in favour of Wolfowitz's girfriend Ms. Riza-none is blaming her. In fact she had quite a successful career in the bank before she met Wolfowitz. It should only be fair not to move her but to get rid of him. However Wolfowitz claims that her move to a different job means that all the efforts she had put in the bank may not get recognized and thus must be compensated in the American way. Bank's European partners disagree and want him out mainly because they rightly feel that the President's image has been tarred. And he would never be in a position to talk about good governance.
How does one determine if there is a conflict of interest, whether actual, apparent, or potential? The key is to determine whether the situation one is in is likely to interfere or appear to interfere with the independent judgment one is supposed to show as a professional in performing his official duties. A good test is the 'trust test': would the general public trust the judgment if they knew the facts. Trust is at the ethical heart of good governance. Conflicts of interest involve the abuse, actual or potential, of the trust people has in the government or any professionals. This is why conflicts of interest not only injure in particular the public but they also damage the whole professional standard by reducing the trust people generally have in government servants and professionals. In fact, the 'trust test' suggests one very good way of dealing with a conflict of interest: revealing ones private interest in the matter to relevant parties. Often if we let others know what might be influencing our judgment, they can be on their guard and not caught unaware.
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Exports to EU grows by 25%
Holiday Desk
According to the latest data released by the European Commission (EU) says that the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and EU grew by more than 25 per cent in 2006, amounting to more than 6.3 billion euros.
The bilateral trade experienced a negative growth in the previous year as Bangladesh's exporters faced a flooding of Chinese garments in the European market in early 2005.
A robust growth in Bangladesh's exports of readymade garments to the EU, their largest market destination, propelled the 2006 trade growth as sales of the major products in Bangladesh's export basket amounted to 4.6 billion euros, posting a nearly 30 per cent rise.
Exporters and trade analysts termed the Bangladesh's export performance as tremendous said it was possible due to Dhaka's duty- and quota-free access to the EU and an interim quota restriction on Chinese garments.
They, however, cautioned that the EU's restructured rules of origin, especially those for garment imports, which were expected to be adopted by the EU authorities by June this year, would be critical in determining the future of Bangladeshi garment products in the European market.
Bangladesh's total exports to the EU from January to December 2006 amounted to 5,266 million euros, more than 87 per cent of which was made by readymade garment by accounting for 4,590 million euros, the EC data shows. Bangladesh is the third largest apparel exporter to the EU market after China and Turkey.
On the other hand, the EU exports to Bangladesh last year crossed the 1-billion-euro threshold for the first time, registering nearly a 12 per cent hike.
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Brand Forum for Bangladesh launched
Holiday Desk
To popularise the concept of branding and marketing and also to help the country create its own image globally, Bangladesh Brand Forum has been launched in the city last Saturday.
It was jointly launched by brand consultancy firm Brandzeal, Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University and Global Brand Forum from Singapore.
GrameenPhone sponsored the forum, which brought together a panel of global and local brand experts to share their insights and knowledge on branding of businesses.
Around 250 corporate officials from 80 different companies joined the two-day seminar at a Dhaka hotel on Saturday. A two-day brand fair was also inaugurated at the IBA campus to show the visitors live application of branding concept. Professor SMA Faiz, vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, inaugurated both the seminar and fair.
Muhammad Ziaul Haq Mamun, director of IBA, presided over the opening ceremony, while Rubaba Dowla Matin, head of brands and customer management of GrameenPhone, also spoke.
Karthik Siva, chairman of Global Brand Forum Singapore, told the inaugural function that Singapore implemented the branding concept effectively and created its own brand image in the corporate world. 'This is the perfect time for Bangladesh to concentrate on making brand image and take the opportunity of brand value home and abroad,' he said.
Shariful Islam, chief executive officer of Brandzeal, Toffael Rashid of PepsiCo International, Steven Van Der Kruit of Firmenich, Argha Sen of Toys LiFung Ltd and Subas Roy, professor of Indian Institute of Management participated in the discussions. Bangladesh's perspectives of branding, brand building models, integrated marketing communication and branding challenges and opportunities in the country were discussed.
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German firms order ocean-going vessels worth $100m from local shipbuilder
Holiday Desk
With the signing of a US$100 million contract to build 8 small ocean going vessels and export them to Germany last week in Dhaka, Bangladesh is likely to emerge as major ship building country.
Ananda Shipyards Shipways Ltd (ASSL), a local private sector shipbuilding company, has signed the deal with two German companies recently to build these eight ships with a capacity for 325 containers each by June 2010, company Chairman Abdullahel Bari said.
Bari also claimed the deal to be the "single biggest export order for Bangladesh for ocean going vessels and it will go a long way to make the country a major world shipbuilding nation."
In fact, with this ship export order Bangladesh in likely to become a new destination for companies seeking construction of small ocean-going vessels as traditional ship-building nations such as South Korea and China now focus on building large ships ignoring the smaller ones.
The two German companies - Schiffahrtskontor Tom Woden GmbH and Co and Ernst Komrowki Holding KG - signed the deal with ASSL after inspecting its facilities on the river Meghna and failing to find any shipbuilder willing to build ships for them in China. "They're convinced we can build ships and deliver them on time. We have enough skilled workforce," said Bari.
Riverine Bangladesh has been known for its small ferry-making industry since its independence in 1971. Most of the country's nearly 3,000 ferries were made in the country's shipyards.
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