December 4, 2014

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today returned to Dhaka after concluding her three-day official visit to Malaysia. During her stay, the Bangladesh PM oversaw the signing of four deals with Malaysia aimed to enhance bilateral ties between the two countries in the sectors of manpower export, tourism, arts and culture. PM also addressed a meet of investors and business people in Malaysia. During her meet with the Malaysian PM Najib Razak, the latter expressed his intention to elevate the already warm ties between the two countries to ‘greater heights’. Talks were also held regarding car giant Proton opening plant in Bangladesh, Malaysia building low cost housing for the poor at the outskirts of Dhaka, Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries and the convening of a Joint Commission meeting next year to explore further areas of cooperation.

Bangladeshi scientist Firdausi Qadri has been named a member of the UN’s high-level panel to advise on the proposed ‘Technology Bank’, dedicated to helping the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) advance out of poverty. The panel was constituted during the 68th session of the UN General Assembly and is mandated to examine the scope and functions of the proposed Technology Bank, its organizational aspects and its institutional linkages with the UN.

According to a recent report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) titled “Least Developed Countries Report 2014”, Bangladesh received 45% of the total remittance inflow to the least developed countries (LDCs). The report said Bangladesh continued to be the largest recipient of remittances, receiving almost $14 billion in 2013. The report further stated that the country registered strong growth in export in the recent years, driven mainly by exports of labour-intensive manufactured goods. In a related development, remittance inflow into Bangladesh in the month of November 2014 increased by 14.70% to $1168.85 million compared to $1019.03 million the month before.

Bangladesh government will form a business council with ambassadors from the EU nations and trade body leaders to boost exports to the European countries. The proposed council would help boost trade further and work towards removing barriers to trade and to help Bangladesh achieve middle-income country status faster. Bangladesh's export earnings currently stand at above $30 billion, half of which comes from the EU. The EU also wants to further increase imports of garments, pharmaceuticals, ships and ICT products from Bangladesh as they think the country is an important sourcing destination for them.

As part of the AL government’s policy of a wide-ranging social safety net programs, a new initiative will be launched whereby cash handouts will be provided to poor women, to ensure proper nutrition for their children and better health for them. Funded by the World Bank, the program will be run in the seven most poverty-prone districts and will provide cash handouts to pregnant women and women with infant children. Around 600,000 poor women in the seven districts will benefit from the project, which is expected to start formally from the next fiscal year.

Under a reading habit development program of the government, in 2014, some 8,10,000 students of 6,680 schools of 125 Upazilas read extra curriculum books regularly. Financed by the World Bank, the program was launched in 2010 to develop reading habit of students from class 6 to 10. The government is encouraging students to read books as it not only help build a knowledge-based society but also helps make them creative and open their minds. Initiative is now being taken to convert most of the books into e-book. Owing to the success of the program, it is being extended to another 3,300 schools of 90 Upazilas next year.