Norwegian delegation to review status of development projects

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Naim-Ul-Karim
A high-powered delegation of the Norwegian government is expected to arrive in the city by the end of this month to discuss areas of cooperation and review the status of the development projects funded by that country in Bangladesh, a diplomatic source said.
He said Bangladesh has been a partner country for Norwegian development co-operation since 1973. Over the years, Bangladesh has been the third largest recipient of Norwegian development assistance worth over 6.0 billion kroner until 2006.
Diplomatic sources said the delegation, led by the state secretary for International Development, Anne Stenhammer, is expected to arrive in the city on October 29.
They said the visit of the state secretary of Norway, one of the development partners of the country, is very important as it is expected to review a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed between the countries earlier.
With a view to further strengthening and developing relations between the two countries, sources said representatives of Norway and Bangladesh conducted consultations in Dhaka in 2003 on the overall priorities and framework for future cooperation and signed the MoU.
The overall goal of cooperation is to support Bangladesh efforts to reduce poverty and strengthen good governance, including the fight against corruption and respect for human rights, they said.
Sources said the two main sectors of cooperation under the MoU are education, in particular, basic education and private sector development including trade. Other important concerns include gender equity, environment, institutional capacity building and HIV/AIDS control.
It is expected that during the high-level meetings both the parties will review the MoU as there is a scope for further expansion of cooperation, they said.
Besides, sources said Bangladesh will look for more cooperation from the Norwegian government, which recently launched plan of action for promoting the rights of women in developing countries through development cooperation allocating a total of 3.0 billion kroner.
However, they said during visit the Norwegian state secretary will meet foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and adviser for the ministries of Textiles and Jute, Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury.