May 19, 2006	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1427

DHAKA, May 18: Bangladesh is to sell a 61 per cent stake in state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines through an initial public offering and the shares will be listed on the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges, a minister said on Thursday.

“A meeting of the board of directors of Biman is likely to approve the project next week,” Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir, state minister for civil aviation and tourism, told a news conference.

Biman has to be modernised with the help of private capital to help boost tourism in the region, the minister said ahead of a meeting of tourism ministers of member countries of the Saarc. —Reuters