The government postponed Sunday the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) meeting scheduled for April 26-27, in view of the ongoing waves of political unrest, competent sources said.
No fresh schedule was announced immediately.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was scheduled to inaugurate as chief guest the donor-government meeting, where development partners make an appraisal of Bangladesh's socioeconomic situation before making fresh aid commitments for bankrolling the country's development works.
Economic Relations Division of the government put off the meeting Sunday -- five days after the ERD had sent preliminary invitation to development partners.
Earlier, the ERD had taken the decision on holding meeting with the development partners on instructions from Finance Minister AMA Muhith in mid-January.
An email sent to the invitees about the decision to postpone the BDF meet by the Economic Relations Division said: "We regret to inform you that the scheduled Bangladesh Development Forum on April 26-27 2015 has been postponed due to some unavoidable circumstances."
The electronic mail adds: "The new date would be communicated to all in due course."
However, Additional Secretary and Head of the Aid Effectiveness Unit (AEU) Monowar Ahmed, who emailed the letter, told The Financial Express that the ERD had not yet postponed the meeting but was mulling over such option on security grounds, among others.
A lack of preparedness on the 7th Five Year Plan documents is also cited as a reason.
"Government cannot hold such high-profile meeting in the midst of political unrest in the country," the official says -- and it apparently seals the fate of the development-financing talks with the donors.
A number of sources in the ERD and in the circles of development partners, however, unequivocally said the die is cast.
They said the ERD postponed the meeting due to unwillingness of some of the development partners, including co-chairs of the Local Consultative Groups (LCG) USAID and the European Union.
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