Green growth opens ‘new horizon’ in Bangladesh, Denmark relations

Cooperation in the area of green growth will open up a “new horizon of partnership” between Bangladesh and Denmark, the state minister for foreign affairs has said.

“I am quite sanguine about that,” Md Shahriar Alam said on Wednesday while speaking at the green growth solutions conference in Dhaka.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Embassy in Dhaka jointly hosted the conference with the Nordic Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The conference aimed at articulating the challenges and opportunities for Bangladesh to make the transition to a green economy, with inspiration from Denmark’s success in the field.

The final goal was to formulate a framework which in practical terms will give a clear direction on how the Bangladeshi economy can keep growing and still honour the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Denmark is going to be the first country in the world to replace fossil fuel by renewable energy by 2050 completely.

The state minister said ever since Bangladesh had opened its Embassy in Copenhagen in May 2015, “we identified green growth as of our top priority issues for our Mission there”.

“And we pursued ways and means to benefit from Danish experience and expertise in this particular area,” he said, citing Denmark as an example of how green growth can offer “substantial scope for growing cleaner without growing slower”.  

He said in a country like Bangladesh, although green growth is a “necessity”.

But the policy must be designed to make it “efficient and affordable, to maximise the benefits for the poor and vulnerable, and simultaneously, to minimise the cost and most importantly, any irreversible and negative impacts on the environment must be avoided”.

Over 250 Bangladeshi and Danish experts and policy makers discussed opportunities and challenges related to Green Growth at the Conference.

Four panels of experts and decision makers discussed how Bangladesh could effectively apply energy efficiency and sustainable waste and water management in various industries at the conference.

Earlier, opening the conference, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali emphasised the awareness among all the stakeholders about the opportunities presented by the shift to an inclusive and green economy for achieving prosperity for all in a safe environment.

Danish Ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther addressing the conference said it is a “core” element of the Danish development efforts in Bangladesh.

“I see a huge potential for Danish inspired solution being applied in this country, and I hope this conference will boost the green transition of Bangladesh”, he said.

Bangladesh Ambassador in Denmark Muhammad A Muhith who came for the conference said he would go back to his assignment with “a good number of green issues to pursue”.

Danish solutions provider within energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water saving and treatment solutions were present at the daylong conference displaying their products and services.