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Bangladesh and Paris
The Bangladesh delegation to this year's meeting of the aid consortium in Paris left Dhaka yesterday with high hopes of getting additional funding to see the country through the current economic crisis made worse by devastations wrought by the April 29 cyclone. In addition, the delegation will also be seeking financial assistance to help its medium-term post-cyclone rehabilitation programme.
Whether they will get the extra funding or not. we certainly hope the team will be able to impress upon donor countries the exceptional circumstances Bangladesh finds itself in. and that the reasonings offered by the delegation will find receptive ears (not to mention exchequers).
However, the time has now come to give some serious thought to the format under which the meeting is held, as well as the way its agenda is prepared. Although the aid club was set up to help Bangladesh's development efforts with financial and technical assistance, the role of the subject-country has remained marginal at best in the deliberations of the consortium. It is the donor countries and aid agencies which decide on the priorities of our Annual Development Budget, and the government is then asked to follow a set of guidelines prescribed by the World Bank. The Bank Itself prepares the agenda for the meeting, while the money to be pledged and designs of projects to be financed are determined in advance by respective exchequers of donor countries. And Bangladesh? The response of our government to the proposals may have an Impact on the details and time-frame of some aspects of the agenda, particularly those dealing with Bangladesh's compliance with policy reforms set out by the World Bank. But the overall policy frame-work (of the donors, for Bangladesh) remains unchanged.
It Is a situation that needs a thorough overhauling. But the problem is such that simultaneous actions have to be taken at various levels, here in Dhaka as well as in donor capitals and the World Bank headquarters.
As M. Sayeduzzaman pointed out in the Conversation published here yesterday, delegations from donor countries are largely made up of the people below the decision-making echelon of governments. Consequently, they are in no position. to make any major amendment to the proposals already decided upon by their respective governments. At the same time, the hign-level Bangladeshi delegation ends up talking to people well below their station. This is a problem that should not have existed in the first place, and can be solved by the donors upgrading the meeting and making it the final stage of the decisionmaking process, rather than a fait accompli.
Sayeduzzaman further suggested that the process of working out the agenda takes about six to seven months, during wnich time World Bank officials visit Dhaka to discuss the following year's plan with concerned ministries. It is this period that presents an opportunity for the government to project Its own policy priorities. Unfortunately, we have failed to make the best use of it time and agaln.In a way, we seem to show a tendency to virtually invite donors to solve our problems for us. It Is the responsibility of our government, of whatever political shade, to assert itself during this period, when it has the chance to do so.
The crucial factor remains Bangladesh's woeful lack of role in the formulation of the World Bank's recommendations, as well as the Paris agenda. To begin with, is there any logic why the meeting cannot be held in Dhaka? That would be symbolic. making us at least feel that we were part of the process, rather than mere spectators.
But more important is the point made by Prof Rehman Sobhan. in the same Conversation of yesterday. He said that there should only be one document on the table, the policies and priorities of the government of Bangladesh. The donors should then come forward to have a dialogue over theproposals.
This frame-work would allow the country's ADB to be based on want the government thinks It needs and what. There is an essential Justice to this approach that cannot possibly be lost on the decision-makers of donor countries.
Quite apart from the issue of national sovereignty on matters relating to economic policies and priorities, letting Bangladesh's position play the pivotal role at Paris (or anywhere else) is an idea which needs to be addressed on an urgent basis. To bring that about, the government here has to show greater political will. At the same time, we would expect the donors and the World Bank to consider the problems and prospects of Bangladesh on their particular merits. rather than impose an alien package designed in Washington or Geneva.