Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday urged the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide more support to Bangladesh in facing the post-LDC graduation-related challenges.
The minister made the request when ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Edimon Ginting paid a courtesy call on him at his secretariat office in Dhaka.
Kamal emphasised strengthening further the existing relationship between Bangladesh and the ADB in the coming days to attain the overall development goals.
He said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working tirelessly to turn Bangladesh into a hunger- and poverty-free prosperous developed country by 2041 and also to materialise the dream of building 'Sonar Bangla' as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Kamal lauded highly the role of the ADB in the country's socio-economic development, especially in overcoming the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The minister also thanked the ADB for extending its support to Bangladesh in economic recovery from the pandemic.
In response, the ADB country director said that they would continue support to Bangladesh in its urban and rural sector development alongside promoting climate-tolerant development investment.
Mentioning that the ADB has an intense relationship with Bangladesh, Ginting assured the finance minister that they would always stand beside Bangladesh.
Lauding highly the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in keeping operational the wheel of the country's economy during the Covid pandemic, he said that Bangladesh has set up one of the best examples in the world in tackling the pandemic situation.
During the meeting, both the finance minister and the ADB country director discussed observing the 50th anniversary of the relationship between Bangladesh and the lending agency next year as well as the participation of the finance minister in the upcoming 55th annual meeting of the Board of Governors of ADB billed for September 26-30, the ministry said in a press release.
Officials said development assistance worth $2 billion is under process from the ADB to Bangladesh in the current fiscal year (FY23) in line with the development goals of the government.
Ginting mentioned that the ADB has been beside Bangladesh from the very beginning of social and economic recovery from the pandemic while it would always stand beside the country in its need.
The Philippines-based bank is one of the major development partners of Bangladesh and it has so far extended loans worth $27.555 billion to the country.
The ADB's assistance to Bangladesh usually focuses on power, energy, education, transport, water resources, agriculture, local government, good governance, and financial and private sectors.
