Projects, future funding in focus

FE Report

An annual Bangladesh-France consultation-2018 will be held in Dhaka on March 28-29 to review the implementation of the existing France-funded projects as well as possible future funding, officials said.

The two-day 3rd annual consultation meeting (ACM) is aimed at discussing the opportunities for bilateral cooperation relating to future development plan of Bangladesh and reviewing the progress of the Agence Française de Development's (AFD) finance for the ongoing and pipeline projects in Bangladesh.

"High officials of Economic Relations Division (ERD) and representatives of the ministries concerned will attend the upcoming meeting," an ERD official told the FE.

The consultation will take place at the National Economic Council (NEC) at the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Eight members of AFD will also attend the meeting.

On March 12 last, a preparatory meeting on the Bangladesh-AFD consultation was held at the ERD with Additional Secretary of ERD Muhammad Alkama Siddiqui in the chair.

Sources said the consultation would look forward to make the ongoing AFD-funded projects successful as well as discuss the future plan in details.

The meeting will also discuss the issues of Bangladesh's graduation to a middle-income country status and impacts of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The AFD has already sent a draft agenda to be discussed at the meeting.

A credit facility agreement and a grant financing agreement to finance 'safety retrofits and environmental upgrades in Bangladesh's ready-made garment sector and Sayedabad water treatment plant project phase-3' are likely to be signed on the second day of the consultation.

When contacted, Deputy Secretary of Europe wing of ERD said, "In the upcoming consultation, we will discuss new projects to be taken up in the years to come."

Besides, the extension of the ongoing projects' tenure would be discussed in the bilateral meeting, he added.

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