The Bangladeshi government is working to cut poverty to 15 percent of its population by 2021, the country's local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam said Sunday.

Inaugurating the 2nd ministerial meeting of the Center of Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) in Dhaka, he said Bangladesh wants CIRDAP to play a vital role for poverty alleviation and development of poorer nations.

Islam called upon the delegates of 14 countries, participating in the five-day meeting of the CIRDAP in Dhaka, to extend all possible support in promotion of agriculture sector and rural development in particular.

"We are struggling very hard to develop agricultural sector and eradicate poverty," he said.

An estimated 45-50 percent of Bangladesh's 150 million people reportedly live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2010)