[Bangladesh] Better ties with donors stressed to cut poverty

from The Daily Star

Staff Correspondent

Eminent economists, civil society members, business leaders and development partners at a roundtable in the city yesterday stressed a broader and deeper partnership between Bangladesh and its development partners for poverty alleviation and sustainable growth.

They suggested giving the poor access to resources through equity share and ownership, removal of trade barriers, free movement of workers and duty free access of goods from developing countries to developed ones.

The government should adopt a visionary approach for removing poverty and steering the nation forward. And development partners should increase the flow of assistance to Bangladesh, the speakers said.

The Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK and The Daily Star jointly organised the roundtable in preparation for a high level conference in London on March 6-7.

Editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam moderated the roundtable held at CIRDAP auditorium, and Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad presented the keynote paper on "Tackling poverty: The role of development partnerships."

Participating in discussion, eminent economist Prof Rehman Sobhan placed some specific suggestions for tackling poverty in the country. Poverty could not be alleviated through mere rhetoric, he observed.

Prof Sobhan proposed giving poor people equity share and ownership of assets. His suggestions include upgrading micro financing banks into macro financing ones, establishing 60 high standard educational institutions at upazila level and incorporating a provision in the EU (European Union) rules to ensure equity share for the workers.

He said the development partners could play an important role in giving equity share to the workers of the company which gets duty free and quota free access to the European markets.

The provision could be included in the existing EU rules regarding generalised system of preference (GSP) to the least developed countries, under which products excepting arms (EBA) can enter Europe duty free, he pointed out.

The economist also urged the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to take an initiative to provide support to enterprises for divesting equity.

He suggested the government to offer financial support to small tea gardens for setting up a unit for processing tea as their products now sell well below the market price.

Economist Hossain Zillur Rahman said the Asian nations also should tell the world its wonderful success stories so that other countries can benefit from it.

He however expressed concern over inequality and insecurity of growth. "We need unhindered fruits of growth".

He noted that after overcoming some extreme poverty problems, Bangladesh is now poised to address new types of challenges.

In his welcome address, David Wood, country representative of the DFID, said Bangladesh is no longer aid-dependent and it is time to develop a new kind of partnership with the development community that goes beyond traditional donor-recipient relations.

These new partnerships will be 'longer-term and broader-based,' he said. They might cover issues such as trade, climate change, reform of international organisations, migration and private sector finance as well as donor projects and programmes.

Wood further said Bangladesh is in a position to move away from being dictated by its international development partners, and towards a broader and deeper development relationship.

He pointed out Bangladesh's successes in different fields including macro-economic stability, positive economic growth for 30 years, expansion of micro-finance and vast network of NGOs.

Primary school enrolment is approaching 100 percent, which is one of the highest rates particularly for girls, in the developing world. Bangladesh also achieved success in health sector and in bringing down infant and child mortality faster than in any other developing country, Wood said.

According to him, the existing relations between Bangladesh and donors have been evolving with the completion of the poverty reduction strategy and hosting of the PRS implementation forum late last year.

The London conference would give an opportunity to share ideas on how to accelerate poverty reduction in Asia.

In his keynote paper, Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, president of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA), said poor governance in Bangladesh is a much-discussed issue. There is a lack of transparency and accountability while corruption is pervasive both within the government and in various sectors of the economy and in the society.

Bangladesh can make use of various types of virtuous partnerships towards accelerating poverty reduction but it needs to dismantle the vicious ones which promote corruption, mismanagement, and extremism in the country, he stressed.

The country achieved a respectable annual average 5.3 percent GDP growth since mid-1990s but it is certainly not high when compared to East Asian tigers and China, he mentioned.

The BEA president noted that the growth achieved has however been lopsided and income distribution has in fact steeply worsened. Even if income distribution is improved, it is necessary to accelerate economic growth to gear up poverty reduction, he observed.

Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, managing director of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), said Bangladesh's economy has grown five to six percent a year but this is not enough. He stressed increased foreign investment in the country.

But inadequate infrastructure including power and transportation, and inefficient operation of Chittagong port are some of the constraints to increasing investment, he said.

Former foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan said the government needs in house financial and legal expertise for human resource development for foreign investment and job creation. He also emphasised free movement of labourers for job opportunities.

A section of government officials welcomes foreign direct investment (FDI) but many others discourage it, he pointed out.

The second generation of Bangladeshis in the UK who run around 10,000 restaurants should come forward for a meaningful partnership in taking the country forward, he felt.

Nasreen Huq, country director of Action Aid, said, "We have enjoyed a modest five percent economic growth but there is still a huge gap and children are facing extreme malnutrition due to poverty."

Wrapping up the discussion, Mahfuz Anam said administering a country is a serious business and it requires experience, honesty, commitment and expertise.

"Our ministers and high-level policy makers must acquire knowledge and expertise to run their respective ministries. Giving speeches, making commitments and talking about big plans do not make a country grow," he observed.

In a modern world, Mahfuz Anam noted, governance has become a highly technical affair for which technical qualities must be acquired.

Participating in the open discussion earlier, Angela Gomes, executive director of Banchte Shekha, said, "Poor women do not have any idea how they can export their products and they lack technical skill. We have to find out areas where we can develop know-how and technology. "

A Rouf Chowdhury, director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said Bangladesh has succeeded in securing new markets but it is facing supply constraints.

"We should pursue movement of skilled and semi-skilled manpower though most of the European Union countries are not in favour of it," he said. "But UK is different from others where we have a significant number of our population, and it is a solid ground for us."

Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Planning Commission member, said there is a lack of appropriate data in analysing overall poverty situation in Bangladesh. The situation is similar in many other countries.

Hua Du, country director of the ADB, said aid should facilitate trade, and developing countries should be in the driving seats for formulating policies. "This is a partnership and new partnership has started to get a shape."

Talea Rehman, executive director of Democracy Watch, underscored improving the quality of education and a proper monitoring system for it.

The poor will remain poor unless governance is improved, she said.