UK govt to boost dev aid to Bangladesh

FE Team | Published: March 25, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

DFID Deputy Country Representative for Bangladesh Ms Diana Dalton said that her government's development assistance to Bangladesh would increase considerably in the future. Ms Diana Dalton said this while addressing a RPCF Dissemination Workshop as the special guest in the city recently, said a press release. The Remittances and Payments Challenge Fund (RPCF) of the Remittance and Payments Partnership (RPP) Project funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development (DFID) and implemented by Bangladesh Bank organised the workshop. The RPP is managed by Cardno Emerging Markets (UK) Limited. Ms Diana Dalton also said that the present British coalition government had reaffirmed its continued development support for Bangladesh. Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman was present at the workshop as the chief guest. Manager RPCF Anwaruddin Chowdhury delivered the welcome address at the workshop. RPP Project Director and CardnoEMG representative also spoke on the occasion. High level representatives from government agencies, banking and financial institutions sector, non-government organisations (NGOs), CF grantee entities and other stakeholder groups attended the workshop. Addressing the workshop, RPCF manager termed the RPCF as a "catalyst for financial sector innovations" and as an "instrument for pro poor economic growth" of Bangladesh. He explained RPCF operational modality; the grants awarded, the performance and implementation progress of funded grantee projects; the benefits derived from DFID and Bangladesh perspectives; together with the lessons learned, funded four projects sustainability issues and recommendations for the way forward. The Bangladesh Bank governor praised the RPCF for creating awareness through dissemination of the Challenge Fund successes. He emphasised that each inward remittance was a building bloc for forex and macro economic stability of Bangladesh. Remittances strengthen the country's resilience in meeting challenges of the global economic crisis, he said. Highlighting the progressively steady growth of foreign remittances, the central bank chief also lauded RPCF's role, as an integral component of RPP, for taking appreciable steps towards ensuring the safety and efficiency of payment systems and for remittances processing and delivery - through technological innovations and extension of remittance disbursement outreach.