Staff Correspondent
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Sunday expressed his optimism thatBangladesh will achieve double digit growth within the next five years.
Bangladesh has the best GDP growth among South Asian countries, he said, adding that, GDP growth will increase by 1 percent each year after completion of the Padma Bridge.
The Finance Minister saidthe countrywill be freed from the ills of hunger and poverty by 2030.
Expressing his firm resolute to enable everyone not to face any dearth of food, clothing and shelter, he said, "The government is working to achieve the developed country status. As a sequel to it, after 2030, no one will be able to find anyone deprived of food, clothing and accommodation."
He came up with these remarks at a seminar titled "Harnessing Blockchain Technology For Development", organised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city here.
The ADB organised the two-day program to further promote growth, inclusion, service delivery and smart governance.
He urged the foreign investors to invest more in Bangladesh as it's a competitive and rewarding place for investment.
Kamal said, "Bangladesh is a unique country where all sectors are open for investment."
The Finance Minister said, “You can regard Bangladesh as a safe place for investment. The production cost here is lower than in other countries. Besides, there is a location advantage too."
In his speech, country director of ADB Manmohan Parkash said, "Bangladesh has made rapid progress in the last 10 years. It has achieved new records and milestones."
He said, "Bangladesh is today seen as a model for both social and economic development."
"Blockchain is a cutting-edge high level creative technology that can revolutionize many areas of modern life by improving transparency, accountability, and efficiency in service delivery, governance, finance sector, industries, trade and others areas," he informed.
"The burgeoning IT industry, well educated youths, vibrant private sector, as well as the government can immensely be benefitted by the early adoption of home-grown Blockchain technology solutions to resolve problems, create new startups and jobs, attract investments from technology companies, and develop world class business environment," he said.
“We, therefore, thought that it is time to bring experts from around the world to talk about technology and its applications so that we become aware of its potential and unleash it for Bangladesh’s development,” he said.
Manmohan Parkash said, "Bangladesh is earning about $16.4billion remittance from 1.2crore expatriates. If this workforce is trained properly, Bangladesh could earn more than $100billion remittance every year."
DrTawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, power, energy and mineral resources affairs advisor to the prime minister and Farida Nasreen, secretary (acting) of Economic Relations Division of Finance Ministry, among others, spoke at the conference.
