 | Bangladesh should curb corruption: DFID
02 March, 2006
Country Director of Department for International Development (DFID) David Wood said that Bangladesh has to curb corruption, enhance capability of civil servants and ensure proper utilisation of foreign aids to reduce poverty.
“Bangladeshi civil servants are less capable to implement foreign aided projects timely,” he said at a press briefing yesterday at a city hotel on a two-day long conference of key policy makers of Asian countries to be held in London on poverty issues.
David Wood said the conference titled “Asia 2015: Promoting Growth, Ending Poverty” will be attended by Ministers of entire Asian countries except Afghanistan and will focus on the opportunities, risks and challenges to Asian development up to 2015.
“A core theme of the March 6 to 7 conference will be what development partners are most useful for the coming decade,” he said.
He emphasised on deepening relation between the development partners and work with wider agenda apart from aides. I would like to see more balanced relationship in future between the development partners and government, he added.
The DFID chief also said development partners were not dictators, they assists the government for development of the country.
Replying to a question he also said Bangladesh needs a political system that responds on needs of people.
On London conference he said it would also focus on progress made by Asia in meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which were agreed at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000.
The Department for International Development (DFID), in partnership with the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will host the conference.
Finance and Planning Minster M Saifur Rahman will lead the 12-member Bangladesh delegation. Chairman of the Editorial Board of The New Nation and The Daily Ittefaq Barrister Mainul Hosein, Editor and Publisher of the Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, Chairman of BRAC Fazle Hasan Abed, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Kamal Siddiqui, Member of Planning Commission Quazi Mesbahuddin, Secretary of the ERD Ismail Zabiullah, Bangladesh Ambassador to Switzerland Toufiq Ali, Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education Rasheda Chowdury, Director of Power and Participation Research Centre Hossain Zillur Rahman, and Director of FBCCI A Rouf Chowdhury will accompany the minister during the visit.
Saifur will deliver introductory remarks at the opening session of the conference to be chaired by Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development, United Kingdom.
Dr Kamal Siddiqui will present a keynote paper on "Where next? Setting the agenda for partnerships to 2015" at the session IV of the two-day conference.
The conference will bring together high-level international figures, including ministers of finance and planning and senior officials from Asia, as well as influential figures from civil society and private sector to discuss the changing face of development in Asia over the next decade.
Rapid growth in Asia will continue to have an enormous impact on the global economy. Markets such as China and India are undergoing tremendous economic and social development. Trade within the continent is growing by nearly three times the global rate and Asia's share of world exports rose from 23 percent in 1985 to 38 percent in 2002.
Despite this recent economic growth in some countries, Asia still faces huge challenges and risks in nutrition, health, education, social exclusion, water and sanitation and more than 600 million people currently living on less that a dollar a day.
Release link:http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_26042.shtml
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