Keynote Address by CPD Chairman
at the Inaugural Session

CPD Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan delivered the keynote speech at the inaugural session of the 14th biennial conference of the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) on September 18, 2002 held at the Institute of Engineers, Dhaka. The theme of the conference was State and Market: The Bangladesh Perspective. Professor Sobhan spoke on The Political Economy of the State and Market in Bangladesh.

In his speech Professor Sobhan stressed the need for constructive initiatives from the state and the civil society to ensure that people in poverty are not further marginalised and because of the vagaries and failures of the market, rather the markets are made to work in support of poverty alleviation.

Identifying transparency and accountability as issues not merely relevant to the government but rather to the society as a whole, Professor Sobhan maintained that the goal of poverty reduction and sustainable development would

remain a distant dream unless corruption is curbed. Professor Sobhan thought that it was an ominous sign in the life of the nation that the default culture has taken an institutional shape. Effective mechanisms to fight loan default were a business as well as an ethical issue, Professor Sobhan asserted.

Prof. Akhlakur Rahman Memorial Lecture by Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya

CPD Executive Director Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya delivered the Prof. Akhlaqur Rahman Memorial Lecture on 20 September 2002 at the 11th Conference of the BEA. The theme of the lecture was Changing Features of External Dependence of Bangladesh Economy and a Perspective on the Future. In his presentation, Dr. Bhattacharya made some projections about the future growth prospects of Bangladesh based on time series analysis. His estimates showed that Bangladesh might graduate to the status of a developing country from that of a least developed country (LDC) by 2020 if she was able to achieve a consistent GDP growth rate of 8 per cent annually.

° Conference on Food Security in Hong Kong
The Consumer International organised the Asia Pacific Conference on Food Security in Hong Kong during July 24-25, 2002. Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya represented CPD at the Conference and presented the keynote paper entitled WTO, Agriculture and Food Security.

° South Asia Business Forum, New Delhi
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) organised the first annual meeting of the South Asia Business Forum in New Delhi during August 12-13, 2002. Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya attended the meeting and presented a paper titled WTO Negotiations and Implications for Sub-regional Cooperation in South Asia.

° Forum on Reducing Disparities in Singapore
The ADB, UN-ESCAP and JBIC jointly organised a forum titled Reducing Disparities: Rethinking Key Issues in Asian Development in Singapore during August 19-20, 2002. Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya presented a paper at this forum on Bangladesh's Experience with Policy Reforms: Assessment from the SAPRI.

° UN Workshop, Bulgaria
Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya attended an international workshop on Social Impact of Privatisation and Responsibility of Business in Conditions of Transition to a Market Economy as a resource person. The UN