Govt, donors agree to hold BDF meet again

The government and the donors have agreed to hold Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) again by early next year after a lapse of five years.
The meeting is expected to chalk out a clear course of funding the country's development projects, officials said.       
The BDF meet will decide on necessary cooperation in implementing the country's next five-year development plan, they added.
The last high-level BDF was held in Dhaka on February 15-16 in 2010.
The decision on the next forum meet was taken at a meeting of the Local Consultative Group (LCG) at the ERD office in Dhaka Wednesday. The government-donor discussion took place after 10 months from its last meeting held in November 2013.
"It is expected that the 7th five-year plan will be drafted in January 2015. Then the BDF is likely to be held within next one to two months from the completion of the draft document," the ERD official said.
General Economics Division Member Professor Shamsul Alam presented a concept paper and action plan on the upcoming 7th FYP at the LCG meeting and sought necessary support from the development partners in implementing the plan, he said.
The last BDF was scheduled to be held in May 2013. But the then political unrest in the country affected the donor-government gathering as donors were not interested to sit.
Cabinet secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, LCG co-chairs ERD secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin and UN Resident Coordinator Neal Walker were present at the LCG meeting.
Representatives from the Bangladesh's development partners, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Islamic Development Bank, the Department for International Development, China and Germany, attended the meeting.
The LCG meeting also decided on preparation of the next Joint Cooperation Strategy (JCS) for Financial Year (FY) 2016 to FY 2020 in a bid to streamline the donors' cooperation for Bangladesh's development.
After completing the JCS, it is expected to be signed by June next year between the Bangladesh government and the development partners (DPs).
The present JCS, signed in 2010 for a five-year period, is set to expire in June 2015.
A proposed theme and way forward of the planned JCS were discussed with the government high officials and the DPs at Wednesday's LCG meeting, said another ERD official.
About the simplification of technical project proposals (TPPs) and the development project proposals (DPPs) approval process, the planning division gave a presentation of its action plan and activities to reduce the delays in the process.
The Planning Division has already prepared guidelines for the government agencies concerned for simplifying the project-approval process.
Earlier, the development partners requested the government to cut down the start-up delays in undertaking development projects, which mainly occurred for lengthy approval process of the DPP and TPP.
The LCG meeting selected USAID mission director Ms Janina Jaruzelski in Bangladesh as the co-chair for the LCG to replace incumbent Neal Walker.
     

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