BB, ICICF for sustainable financing

Bangladesh Bank (BB) and the Improved Coordination of International Climate Finance (ICICF) project jointly organised a training workshop recently on sustainable financing in Khulna.

Thirty executives from the several commercial bank branches in Khulna participated in the programme titled ‘Sustainable Finance for Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities’, according to a statement.

GIZ Bangladesh implements the ICICF project on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The project has been working closely with the government of Bangladesh to help the country mobilise climate finance from the international and national levels. With the objective of supporting the financial sector in implementing the sustainable finance policy circulated by the central bank, the project has been working with the Sustainable Finance Department of Bangladesh Bank.

As a part of this initiative, this workshop was arranged to enhance the capacities of the divisional-level bankers. ICICF Project Principal Advisor Firdaus Ara Hussain emphasised the importance of strengthening the capacities of relevant stakeholders for accessing international climate finance sources to ensure sustainable development initiatives for the country during her welcome remarks.

Sessions on topics related to sustainable financing, refinancing schemes, monitoring and reporting procedures were conducted by Khondkar Morshed Millat, Director of Sustainable Finance Department and Shah Md Ahsan Habib of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM).

Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Khulna Office, S M Hasan Reza, distributed certificates among the participants after the training. In his closing speech, Reza emphasised the need to strengthen local bankers’ capacity to support sustainable financing.

He thanked the participants and the programme organisers and requested GIZ to continue supporting this kind of initiative at the local level to ensure sustainable development.