Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said she expects the World Bank to play a stronger role in Bangladesh’s development endeavours as its leading development partner.
“The World Bank is our one of the leading development partners. I hope, it’ll play a more proactive role in our endeavours,” she told a function.
The government and the World Bank jointly arranged the programme at Osmani Memorial auditorium, marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The prime minister said the partnership with the world community will further be strengthened towards Bangladesh’s development endeavours.
“All our development plans, are aimed at realising our Father of the Nation’s dream of building a hunger, poverty, illiteracy and exploitation-free Sonar Bangladesh.”
Sheikh Hasina said the people of Bangladesh are very brave, committed and hard-working ones. The resilient people of this country are determined to change their future and build a better Bangladesh for the next generation, she added.
The prime minister mentioned that the country has already been placed at the medium category of human development index and upgraded to a lower middle-income country according its per capita income level.
“We’re pursuing an inclusive growth strategy to graduate from the LDC status shortly and become a developed nation by 2041 with a land of peace, prosperity and harmony,” she told her audience.
About the spread of terrorism across the world, she said, “Our government has adopted a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards any kind of violent activities. We’ve been able to contain militancy in the country. We’ll further strengthen our drive to eliminate the scourge of militancy from the society.”
She urged all to come forward to make the world a beautiful place which will be free from poverty and hunger. “Let’s work closely to make this world free from poverty and hunger.”
Hasina said Bangladesh has experienced a robust progress in poverty reduction from more than 70 percent in 1971 to 56.7 per cent in 1991 and 22.4 per cent at present.
She said her government’s development has a human face and strives to protect and promote the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable groups. Social safety net programmes coupled with inclusive growth approach played a catalytic role in this regard.
In this context, she acknowledged the contributions of all players — national, regional and international – in Bangladesh’s development.
Hasina said Bangladesh has been quite successful in managing its macro-economy very prudently. While the average GDP growth rate for the last 10 years was 6.4 per cent, the government has been successful in raising the growth rate to 7.05 per cent in Fiscal Year 2015-16.
The country’s power generation capacity also increased by 3 times to 15,000 MW, she said adding that her government has ensured almost 100 per cent enrollment at primary level, while a significant progress has been made in tertiary education in terms of reducing the gender gap.
A significant progress has also been made in establishing ‘Digital Bangladesh’ as the country is now exporting soft-ware and ICT services to about 30 countries, including some developed ones.
Though Bangladesh has been acclaimed internationally for disaster management, it is still one of the most vulnerable countries that suffers and will continue to suffer from climate change issues.
She hoped that the implementation of Paris Climate Agreement will ensure climate justice.
Based on solid foundation of MDGs implementation, her government has already started the implementation of SDGs aligning the same with the country’s national plans and strategies with a target to achieve the most of the SDGs within 2030, Hasina said.
She thanked the World Bank for showcasing Bangladesh’s success in rapid poverty reduction as this recognition will inspire the nation to further strengthen its development efforts.
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, World Bank vice president for South Asia region Annette Dixon and finance minister AMA Muhith also spoke on the occasion.
World Bank chief economist Paul Romer was the keynote peaker.
Source: Prothom Alo
