World Bank to make additional funding for Construction of the Padma Bridge: President assures Bangladesh Finance Minister.

USANEWS : Dr. Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank assured additional  funding to the tune of US$ 300 million  for the proposed Padma Bridge when the  Finance Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A.M. A. Muhith met him at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC on 7 October,2010.

            During the meeting, Dr. Zoellick  highly lauded Bangladesh’s  spectacular achievements in development fields particularly her  performance in economic and social  sectors. He specially  mentioned about Bangladesh’s impressive success in  enrollment in schools, women empowerment & in  reduction of child mortality. The President  also mentioned about significant increase of revenues collection, improvement in the management of public finance, strengthening of various institutions & initiative for expanding regional cooperation, among others.  Government’s  recent moves  in respect of power & ICT sector, focus on  renewable energy, and  success in the conservation  of bio-diversity also received his appreciation.

                Encouraged by Bangladesh government’s commitment and remarkable performance, Dr. Zoellick  assured that World Bank will finance in these areas in future to help sustain the progress already made.

              Finance Minister informed that despite recent global economic meltdown, Bangladesh was successful in avoiding its negative fall-out in its exports due to prudent policies taken by the Government which was further boosted by remittances sent by Bangladeshi expatriates. While emphasizing that  democracy and development should  go hand by hand,  Minister  briefed the World Bank Head about transparency in budgetary management introduced by the present democratic  Government  which stipulates open discussion on financial issues both inside and outside the Parliament.

            Bangladesh Minister added that the institutional mechanism to present report on the  government income &  expenditure on a quarterly basis in Parliament has greatly contributed in bringing   transparency within the system which eventually led to healthy competition. The Finance Minister added that initiatives taken by the present Government to expand regional cooperation also added impetus  in the region’s economic cooperation. He informed that  Myanmar and China remain on board in the integration process along with India and Nepal.

            While touching on the initiatives to ensure  good governance, Bangladesh Minister mentioned about various legal steps taken by the government including enactment of  Money Laundering Act, Anti-Terrorism Human Rights Commission, among others, In this regard, he mentioned that effort will be made to ensure proper utilization of  foreign assistance by framing  strategy papers in line with the understanding with the 18 development  partners.

            The World Bank President happily agreed to undertake a visit to Bangladesh when the Hon’ble Minister invited him to visit the country.

                The  Minister was accompanied by Dr. A.K.M. Mashiur Rahman, Hon’ble Economic Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister,  Mr. Akramul Qader, Bangladesh Ambassador to USA, Dr. Mohammad Tarek, Finance Secretary, Mr. Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank & Kazi Md. Aminul Islam, Alternate Executive Director of Bangladesh to the  World Bank while the World Bank President was  assisted by  Mr. Justin Lin, Vice President and Chief Economist, Ms. Isabel Guerrero, Vice President, South Asia Region, Ms. Ellen Goldstein, Country Director for Bangladesh and other senior officials.

                The  Finance Minister is currently leading the Bangladesh delegation to attend the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting and the  Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group  being held at the Headquarters of the Bank in Washington DC.