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Roundup: Bangladesh eyes infrastructure fund as high level development forum meets

Xinhua, November 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

After a gap of nearly five years, a two-day meeting of Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF), a high level platform of foreign development partners, kicked off in capital Dhaka on Sunday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday morning inaugurated the high-level flagship event which brought together ministers, top government officials, political representatives of donor countries, senior development partner officials and civil society members to ensure a strengthened partnership for Bangladesh's development.

President-designate of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun and Vice President of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Wencai Zhang, among other distinguished foreign guests, attended the inaugural session of the forum which was organized by the External Resources Division (ERD) of the Bangladeshi government.

On the sidelines of the forum, a development fair was also opened to showcase development activities of Bangladesh before the scores of local and foreign guests.

Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Bangladesh's ERD secretary,said earlier the government will share its various national development plans, including the 7th five-year plan, perspective plan and SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) with the development partners.

He said Bangladesh, which eyes to be a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041 through inclusive development, will also present its development requirements to the its development partners in the two-day forum. The first meeting was held in Dhaka in February 2010.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the forum, Hasina stressed the need for a massive investment in Bangladesh to help its efforts to achieve the SDGs.

"We've full confidence in the international community that they would continue to support our development."

In the face of climate change and other development challenges, she said the international community needs to revisit the current global trade system to remove the constraints.

"Trade should be considered as a means for poverty reduction and employment opportunities," she said.

According to the ERD official, Bangladesh needs annually 8 to 15 billion U.S. dollars fund to bolster its infrastructure projects. Endit