Today, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for assistance in developing the blue economy and harvesting all resources found within the nation’s marine borders.
When vice president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Yingming Yang paid her a visit at her Sangsad Bhaban office, she asked for her support.
Reporters were briefed by PM’s Press Secretary, Md. Nayeemul Islam Khan, following the call.
Despite Bangladesh’s success in this field and abundance of talented researchers, Sheikh Hasina has requested assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for agricultural research.
She stated, “We want to develop Bangladesh as a big market, particularly for our own products,” while bringing up the necessity to increase the country’s per capita income and purchasing power.
The Premier laid emphasis on production of the agricultural items as she mentioned that ensuring food security is the priority of the government. “We consider agriculture as the backbone of the economy for food security along with prioritizing industrialization. We are in favor of industrialization keeping agriculture in the important place,” she added.
Sheikh Hasina also sought logistic support from the ADB to strengthen Bangladesh’s competitiveness for its export items after the graduation from the Least Developed Countries in 2026.
She briefly described various short, medium and long term programmes of the government to improve the country into a developed one by 2041.
In this connection, the Premier mentioned about the government’s aim is to end absolute poverty and to be graduated into higher middle-income status by 2031, and eradicate poverty to become a developed nation by 2041.
She urged the ADB to assist Bangladesh in integrated river management including river training, capital dredging and maintenance dredging.
The ADB vice president Yingming Yang highly appreciated the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to him, ADB has chosen to boost its overall funding for the Urban and Water Policy from 13% to 26%.
In addition to working with Bangladesh on longer-term agricultural research projects, he stated that ADB also wished to support Bangladesh in digital technologies and health projects.
According to him, ADB’s new five-year strategy aims to support Bangladesh’s efforts in primary education and the development of healthcare skills.
According to the vice president of ADB, ADB aims to create a city master plan for Bangladesh so that resources can be used more effectively.
In this connection, the Prime Minister urged them to consider upazilas in Bangladesh for their project as the government is advancing the country as Smart Bangladesh by 2041.
PMO Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin and ERD Secretary Shahriar Kader Siddik were present.
