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Implementing the PRSP: Civil Society's Perspectives on Choices and Challenges
Sunday, November 27, 2005; CIRDAP Auditorium at 3.00 pm

 

Speakers, at a dialogue titled Implementing the PRSP: Civil Society's Perspectives on Choices and Challenges identified corruption, political instability and inefficiency in administration as major challenges to implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) in Bangladesh at CIRDAP Auditorium on 27 November 2005.

Chaired by Former Finance Minister M Syeduzzaman, the dialogue was addressed by the Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman as the Chief Guest and Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Principal Secretary to the Hon’ble Prime Minister as the Special Guest, while CPD Executive Director Debapriya Bhattacharya presented the keynote paper highlighting challenges of the PRSP implementation.

Former Finance Minister and member of Awami League's Advisory Council A M A Muhith highlighted corruption as a major issue of the time and said it has not been properly addressed in the PRSP.

The Special Guest pointed out that three of the eight priority issues in the PRSP are about governance, adding "it's a moving document and will continue to change."

Taking part in the discussion, Hua Du, Country Director of Asian Development Bank (ADB) underscored the need for mobilising domestic resources and attracting foreign direct investment.

Saifur Rahman said, “We have to improve governance, reduce corruption and strengthen the monitoring and evaluation system." He also emphasised strengthening of local government bodies for a successful PRSP implementation.

Former Cabinet Secretary Mujibul Huq identified conflicting political culture as a major barrier in implementing the PRSP and called on the ruling alliance and the opposition political parties to jointly address the issue. He also recommended setting up sectoral advisory committees with civil society's representation in all processes of PRSP implementation.