Dhaka: Noting that the country has made a tremendous socioeconomic progress, visiting Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Shixin Chen on Tuesday said it will be a ‘different Bangladesh’ after 10 years, reports the UNB.

He made the remarks at a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban office in the city.

PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

The ADB vice president said Bangladesh has achieved tremendous progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, expressing his belief that it will be ‘a different Bangladesh’ after another 10 years so far progress is concerned.

He hailed Sheikh Hasina for her being elected as the Prime Minister for 4th term through the recently held general election.

Applauding the country’s 7.86 GDP growth attained in the last fiscal year, Shixin Chen assured that the ADB will continue to assist Bangladesh in its development endvours in different sectors, including infrastructure, water, education and agriculture.

Sharing Chinese experiences during its graduation period, he said ensuring food for the people, poverty reduction and social protection programmes are important for development.

Shixin Chen said the ADB highly commended Sheikh Hasina for showing her generosity by accepting displaced Rohingyas. The ADB provided a package totaling US$ 200 million to help develop basic infrastructure and services for the displaced Myanmar people, he added.

The ADB vice president said he was impressed with Sheikh Hasina’s keynote speech delivered at the conference of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), held in Italy in 2018.

The Prime Minister sought support from the ADB in implementing the Delta Plan 2100 adding that the government has already signed an agreement with the Netherlands for capital dredging of the country’s rivers.

About manmade disasters, she said Bangladesh is now able to handle manmade disasters like terrorism.

Hasina highly appreciated the role of ADB, saying it has been extending its support to Bangladesh in all the sectors since the country’s independence.

Having a dream, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had liberated the country first and then wanted to build a society where there would be no hunger and poverty, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said her government has been working to implement his dream and accordingly, its first target is to ensure food for all.

Coming to power in 1996, the Awami League government set making the country self-sufficient in food as its first target, she said, adding that her government started encouraging people to increase food production and not to keep an inch of land uncultivated.

The Prime Minister said the government opened up everything to the private sector for the development of the country.

She said the continuity is a major factor for development of Bangladesh.  “I feel happy when I see that the people are enjoying fruits of development,” Karim quoted Hasina as saying.

The Prime Minister said the government has started some mega projects though the territory of Bangladesh is small. “Our aim is to ensure urban facilities in villages,” she was quoted as saying.

She also focused on ‘My House My Firm’ project, distribution of free textbooks among students, government’s incentive to mothers for sending their children to school.  

Talking about the Rohingya crisis, Sheikh Hasina said it has now turned into a big problem for Bangladesh as some 40,000 babies have already been born in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. “It would be difficult to manage huge Rohingyas during the monsoon,” she added.

Noting that an island has been developed for their shelter, the Prime Minister said the government is trying to ensure safe drinking water for Rohingyas.

Principal Secretary Md Nojibur Rahman was present.