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Bangladesh needs conditions for dev

UNDP Regional Director Haoliang Xu tells She ^ailu ^tar

Porimol Palma
Political leaders must have the wisdom to create conditions for development of Bangladesh that has enormous potentials of progress, said UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Haoliang Xu.
Highlighting that there are "domestic and political challenges" that need to be solved nationally, he said Bangladesh had done fine in social sectors over the years, but given its geographical advantages, the level of development was still low.
“There is a perception of corruption, which is deterrence for investment. So, there are issues that are not new, but we
need to have agreement that you have a plan to address these issues," Xu said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star at the UNDP office in Dhaka onTuesday.
During his five-day visit to Bangladesh till Wednesday, he
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inspected various projects of the United Nations Development Programme in Dhaka, Khulna, and Chittagong Hill Tracts. He also met ministers, officials and experts to discuss Bangladesh's development priorities.
The expert on international economic development said while Bangladesh's achievements in health, education and gender were commendable, there were still many challenges like poverty reduction, tackling climate change, and development of human resources, infrastructure and power sector.
"Every development challenge in Bangladesh is huge because of the size of the population," said Xu, who came on his first visit since taking the office late last year.
Stating that Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to climate change, he said, "You have seven hundred kilometres of coastal areas. Our project covers only four to five million people, but there are 30 million people in the coastal belt."
He also stressed addressing urban pov-
erty, especially in slums.
About prioritising development challenges, he said, “I think you need to have a balanced approach in everything. For example, you can't go only for infrastructure, and neglect social sector."
"Infrastructure is critical for investment, but you also have to look at human resources development," he said.
Xu also laid emphasis on capacity building of the institutions, both at central and local levels. “I am talking about the ability to spend budget responsibly at every level. We need to address it."
He advised digitisation of the administration and proper use of the Right to Information Act to address corruption. "Through access to information, you can reduce the discretionary power of bureaucracy. "
For all these to happen, according to him, the important thing is that the government has a development vision.
"What international donors want is political commitment. Everybody is willing to support... I think the government should be open for dialogue."