Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) has received the widely-acclaimed "SAARC Country Gold Award-2005" award from Sri Lanka’s premier chamber, Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI).

Nazmul Hassan, chief executive officer of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, received the award from Macky Hasim, president of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry, at a ceremony in Sri Lanka on Friday. Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was present on the occasion as chief guest.

The award is given on the basis of certain criteria including productivity standards, value addition, quality control, employee benefits and relationships, respect for the environment, cleaner production and social welfare.

Hassan said at the ceremony that Beximco Pharma is the only pharmaceutical company in the South Asian region to have received this award for industrial excellence this year.

The BPL is also the only pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh, which receives the National Export Trophy (Gold) for record three times.

Beximco Pharmaceuticals is a sister concern of Beximco Group, the largest private sector business conglomerate of Bangladesh, having eight divisions and over 25,000 employees.

The largest pharmaceutical as well as bulk drug manufacturer of Bangladesh started its journey in 1980 with manufacturing and marketing of licensee products of Bayer AG, Germany and Upjohn Inc. of USA. Beximco Pharma started manufacturing its own products in 1983.