Salman Rahman-led delegation meets World Bank officials in US

A Bangladesh delegation led by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman has held a meeting with World Bank officials at its headquarters in Washington, DC.

Caroline Freund, the World Bank Group’s global director for trade, investment, and competitiveness, and Samia Msadek, director for strategy and operations in South Asia, among others attended the recent meeting.

World Bank directors Zoubida Allaoua and Simeon Djankov, and Qimiao Fan, country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, were also present.

The Bangladesh delegation included Mohammad Shafiul Alam, alternate executive director for Bangladesh in World Bank, and Md Sirazul Islam, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority or BIDA.

They discussed Bangladesh’s economic progress and possible support from the World Bank Group, Salman’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

Salman explained in detail different aspects of the “remarkable” progress made so far by Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and urged the global lending group to support this journey.

The Bangladesh delegation and the World Bank officials agreed to extend collaboration in a number of important areas, including reforms related to “doing business” and development of investment policies.

They also agreed on cooperation for enhancement of promotional activities and institutional capacity-building of BIDA, and skills development to face the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution, introduction of risk-based management and implementation of “One-Stop Service” for foreign investors.

Both sides expressed their satisfaction at the fruitfulness of the meeting and agreed to work closely, according to the statement.

Besides the meeting, the Bangladesh delegation also attended some programmes at the World Bank headquarters between Nov 12 and Nov 16. 

Salman also met Alice Wells, the acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, in Washington, DC on Friday.

He focused on the enabling investment climate in Bangladesh during the meeting.

He also had an “excellent” exchange of views with Wells on the growing economic relations between Bangladesh and the US and underscored the need for further widening and deepening of the bilateral partnership in the coming days.

Bangladesh Ambassador to the US Mohammad Ziauddin was also present.

Salman participated in a discussion hosted by American think-tank Hudson Foundation in Washington, DC on Thursday on the opportunities and challenges of Bangladesh’s rapidly growing economy.

Scholars, researchers, representative of the US Department of State, the media, and members of the policy and business communities attended the event, according to the statement.

Salman highlighted the “strong” macroeconomic indicators and the “attractive” trade and investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

He also took questions from the participants of the event moderated by Ambassador Husain Haqqani, Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute.

Ambassador Ziauddin and Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority or BIDA Md Sirazul Islam were also present.

In another discussion with the Heritage Foundation on Friday, Salman presented facts and positions of the government.

In both the programmes, he mentioned that Bangladesh has reached today’s “commendable” position due to the “brave and prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina”.