Bangladesh’s security ‘impresses’ World Bank President Kim

World Bank President Jim Young Kim has expressed high praise for the overall security situation he witnessed during his two-day Bangladesh tour.

“I am impressed with the security. I can just tell you that the security I have received was extremely impressive,” he said, replying to a question at a press briefing on Tuesday on the conclusion of his two-day visit.

The visit came amid security concerns in Bangladesh by Western countries after the July 1 terror attack at an upscale café in Dhaka.

Kim said no country in the world, not even the United States, today was “immune” against terror attacks.

“There is not a single country in the world which is free from terror attacks,” he said. “This is an unfortunate reality of society”.

“It’ll take continuous vigorous monitoring and screening. It takes just constant vigilance,” he said.

A Korean-American physician and anthropologist, Kim is the 12th president of the World Bank, and the first without a formal background in finance or banking.

He came to Dhaka on Sunday to see firsthand Bangladesh’s success stories in its striving towards an end to poverty.

This visit is also seen by many, including officials of the Bank, as a smoothening out of its strained relations with Bangladesh over the Padma Bridge financing.

The WB chief met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Finance Minister AMA Muhith and spoke at the joint commemoration of the ‘end poverty day’ with the Bangladesh government. He also visited southern Barisal district to see some World Bank-funded projects.

He lauded Bangladesh’s “extraordinary accomplishment” in reducing poverty, and said this “impressive” record of economic growth and investments in people had occurred despite many challenges.

He announced new investment plans totalling $3 billion, with $1 billion going into combating malnutrition and the rest in adapting to climate change.

In addition, he said, the World Bank planned to establish a “multi-donor trust fund” to pass on the knowledge of successful poverty reduction experiences here to countries around the world.

Kim expressed his belief that Bangladesh could reach its goals of becoming a middle-income country by 2021 and ending extreme poverty by 2030.