Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– The Asian Development Bank has organized a stakeholder consultation at TARC auditorium in Chittagong Monday in connection with preparing a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Bangladesh for 2011-2015.
The event forms part of a series of ongoing consultations with a wide range of stakeholders at various geographical locations before preparing the new CPS for Bangladesh, an ADB press statement said in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Business, civil society, professional groups, women leaders, ethnic minorities, local government leaders, and academia participated in Monday’s consultations providing valuable feedback and suggestions on future ADB operations in Bangladesh.
The participants suggested that ADB should sharpen its focus on improving quality of education, technical education and teachers’ training, improvement of power/energy and water supply, railway reforms, food security, climate change, women empowerment, public sector management reforms, and local government reforms, among other issues. The participants also set forth proposals on development priorities, relevance of ADB operations, and better implementation of ADB-assisted projects as part of the strategic directions of future ADB assistance.
Thevakumar Kandiah, Country Director for ADB’s Bangladesh Resident Mission and Zahid Hossain, ADB’s Senior Country Specialist made a presentation on the proposed CPS.
The new CPS is expected to be prepared by mid-2011 replacing the CPS for 2006-2010.
The new CPS will be aligned with the government’s priorities to be reflected in the sixth five-year plan, which is under preparation.
It will also be compatible with ADB’s Long Term Strategic Framework (Strategy 2020) seeking to support inclusive growth; environmentally sustainable growth; and regional cooperation and integration.
BBN/SI/AD-01Feb11-8:31 pm (BST)
