No businessman can be elected to the board of directors of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) for more than two consecutive terms.
At the same time, the president, senior vice president, vice president, associate director or all members of the executive committee of the organization must be elected to the board of directors through voting.
The Ministry of Commerce has issued the Trade Organization Rules, 2025 with these provisions through a notification on Tuesday. According to the rules, elections will be held in other trade organizations as well under the same rules.
The issuance of the rules, however, has created an opportunity to break the deadlock that had arisen in the FBCCI over elections. The FBCCI administrator has announced that arrangement for election will be initiated immediately after the issuance of the rules.
In view of the strong demands of businessmen, the government has issued the rules by removing the word 'previously'. The elections of many former directors were under threat due to the word previously.
However, businessmen say that there are still problems. The government, having previously mentioned giving one term gap after two consecutive terms in the draft, has now added a provision for giving two term gaps.
Abu Motaleb, joint convener and former director of the FBCCI Interest Protection Council, said, "Earlier, there was talk of giving one term gap after two terms, but now it has been made two terms.
It has been done in fulfillment of our demands to eliminate attempt to create a crisis by electing 'former directors'.
He said this will put the chamber associations in danger. Because some chamber associations do not have so many members. If they give a gap twice, the leadership will not be found. This is also a kind of conspiracy. So that one party can take advantage.
The board of directors of the federation will have a president, two vice presidents in addition to a senior vice president, 15 directors elected from the chamber, 15 from the association, 5 directors nominated from the chamber and the association, and 1 director nominated from the women's chamber and the association, making a total of 46 directors in the association's board of directors. The number was double that previously.
The term of the board of directors has been kept at two years as before. Those concerned believe that through this, the reform of the FBCCI that was being talked about has taken another step forward.
