A high level seminar on ‘Sustainable Development: Bangladesh Perspective’ was held today (January 29, 2014) at the Jahangir Alam Conference Hall of Bangladesh Bank. Eminent economist, development thinker and practitioner Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed was the keynote speaker. The seminar was graced by the BB Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman as the Chief Guest and Deputy Governor Mr. SK Sur Chowdhury as the special guest. The seminar was attended by Deputy Governors Mr. AHM Razee Hassan and Mrs. Nazneen Sultana, Change Management Adviser Mr. MAM Kazemi, Chief Economist Dr. Hassan Zaman, Executive Directors and General Managers of the Bank.In his speech, Dr. Ahmed conceptualized ‘sustainable development with special focus on climate change’ followed by historical development of global negotiations/talks/summits till to date. He portrayed the active role of Bangladesh in the on-going climate change related global negotiations, where he has been the chief negotiator. He said ‘environmental harmony and sustainable development’ is not conflicting rather complementary to each other. He praised Bangladesh’s remarkable socioeconomic development related to MDG and beyond, which would have been even better had there been no environmental effects on Bangladesh. Nonetheless, he mentioned that Bangladesh faces huge challenges of eradicating extreme poverty, achieving food security in terms of nutrition, and ensuring universal healthcare and education along with sustainable production and consumption due to its vulnerabilities arising out of high population density, flow of four big rivers along with wide coastal area, and weak human and institutional capacity. The speaker highlighted the necessity of both the issues of mitigation and adaptation for sustainable development. He also mentioned the need for unleashing human potential with climate justice and greater integration for sustainable development. The issues of digitization, skill development, corruption, good/effective governance, green energy, financial sector development, financial inclusion, and paperless office environment were also raised and discussed in this highly interactive session.
Chief Guest Dr. Atiur Rahman made it clear through his concluding remarks that broad based, inclusive and multidimensional perspectives are required for attaining sustainable development. He highlighted BB’s role in enhancing green financing, financial inclusion, digitization of BB and its payment system, and other developmental initiatives for sustainable development. He also mentioned BB’s remarkable achievements in digitization and strongly urged his senior colleagues’ supports in transforming the Bangladesh Bank into a complete paperless institution in the country. BB Governor finished his concluding remark by thanking the eminent speaker Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman for his brilliant speech and also for his negotiating leadership role for Bangladesh’s interest in the environment and climate change related global dialogues.
