The two-day Bangladesh Development Forum that began on Monday ended on Tuesday. Bangladesh and its foreign lenders met and agreed to make a joint pursuit to carry out the country’s developmental agenda.
After a gap of nearly four and half years, the host government, multilateral lending agencies, and development partners gathered again for a meeting in Dhaka. Donors reminded the government of the need for better execution of development projects. On the first day of the meeting, the government of Bangladesh called for a decrease in conditions that must be met to receive assistance from donors. On the second day, they agreed to set new benchmarks to measure progress.
The Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said this Joint Cooperation Strategy has been created to ensure aid effectiveness, and will be finalized in the next six months. Chris Austin, country director of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and co-chair of the Local Consultative Group, was present in the meeting. He said the Bangladeshi government’s initiatives have been welcomed by the development partners.