Mr. Chairman,
President of NDB,
Honorable Governors,
Distinguished Delegates,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning to you all.
At the outset, let me convey my sincere thanks to the Government of the People’s Republic of China and NDB for organizing this meeting in this smart city of Shanghai.
I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Her Excellency Ms. Dilma Rousseff for being the President of the Bank. I firmly believe that the Bank will get new momentum under your prudent guidance towards achieving its goal.
Mr. Chairman,
As a new member, Bangladesh is participating at the NDB’s Annual meeting physically for the first time. On behalf of the government of Bangladesh, I would therefore, like to extend our indebtedness to you all for including Bangladesh to this family. This will obviously open new windows of partnership in sharing knowledge, experience, and innovation in elevating our economy to a smart knowledge based developed nation by 2041, as was dreamt by our Father of the Nation Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujobur Rahman.
At this occasion, I also like to share that under the visionary leadership of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we could maintain economic growths of over 6.6% along with significant progresses in socio-economic indicators over the last one and half decade and successfully managed Covid 19 Pandemic that has led us to graduate from the LDC status by 2026. We deeply appreciate the continuous support of our development partners during this journey.
Excellencies,
We have gathered here at a time when we are recovering from the Covid Pandemic while passing through the turmoil of global economic crisis. This second wave of devastation is pushing us to deep uncertainty.
The unprecedented food, fuel, fertilizer, and financial crises have resulted in depreciation of currencies, exponential rate of inflation and depletion of foreign reserves at a faster pace. This would disproportionately affect the poorest segment of the global community and jeopardize successes that we have achieved so far through hard endeavors. A joint effort is the dire need of time, otherwise we all may fall into deep crisis.
Distinguished Delegates,
The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting “Shaping a New Era for Global Development” is a prudent choice. We deeply appreciate the thought. We are advancing at a high speed on the technological front, at the same time are encountering new challenges of climate change and geopolitical conflict. At this complex global environment, we have joined here with great aspirations of getting innovative ideas for reshaping a prosperous and inclusive world for all.
Mr. Chairman,
NDB has emerged to support the member states to mitigate their financial gaps. At this state, innovative mechanism is utmost important to stimulate the borrowing members in meeting their financial needs and to attract potential non-members to join in our family.
Excellencies,
We understand that policy-based support and concessional financing are extremely instrumental in tackling on-going economic challenges. NDB may consider concessional financing for climate change with appropriate technologies for transition from fossil fuel-based energy supply to renewable energy so that it does not impose additional financial burdens on us. Moreover, the public sector infrastructure development, regional connectivity, improving skills to face the challenges of 4IR and meet the future demands of industries would get priority. Sharing expertise in domestic resource mobilization may be another area of cooperation to develop our individual economies.
Distinguished Delegates,
The cost of financing is extremely important for prudent borrowing to avoid debt traps. I would urge NDB Management to develop innovative options so that the financing is affordable, competitive, complements our development efforts and results in a win-win benefit for all of us. We should work quickly rather than waiting and be spectators while the world scenario is changing very fast.
Excellencies,
As a new global endeavour, we have high expectations from NDB. I firmly believe that our coherent efforts will result in achieving our goals of successfully facing the current challenges and building a new Era of development. Bangladesh assures its highest commitment to work closely with NDB in building a prosperous and equitable world for our next generation.
With these few words I would like to conclude here.
I thank you all for patient hearing.