Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday sought cooperation Asian Development Bank (ADB) in implementing the blue economy alongside extracting every resource from the country's maritime boundary.

She sought cooperation as the visiting Asian Development Bank (ADB) vice president Yingming Yang called on her at her office in Sangsad Bhaban.

PM's Press Secretary Md Nayeemul Islam Khan briefed reporters after the call on.

Sheikh Hasina also sought support in agricultural research from ADB although Bangladesh is doing well in this arena and the country has many good researchers.

Mentioning that the people of Bangladesh's per capita income and purchasing capacity needed to be improved, she said, "We want to develop Bangladesh as a big market, particularly for our products".

The Premier put emphasis on the production of agricultural items as she mentioned that ensuring food security is the priority of the government. "We consider agriculture as the backbone of the economy for food security along with prioritizing industrialization. We are in favor of industrialization keeping agriculture in the important place," she added.

Sheikh Hasina also sought logistic support from the ADB to strengthen Bangladesh's competitiveness for its export items after the graduation from the Least Developed Countries in 2026.

She briefly described various short, medium and long term programmes of the government to improve the country into a developed one by 2041.

In this connection, the Premier mentioned about the government's aim is to end absolute poverty and to be graduated into higher middle-income status by 2031, and eradicate poverty to become a developed nation by 2041.

She urged the ADB to assist Bangladesh in integrated river management including river training, capital dredging and maintenance dredging.

The ADB vice president Yingming Yang highly said that ADB has decided to increase their support in Urban and Water Policy from 13 percent of the total support to 26 percent.

He mentioned that ADB wants to assist Bangladesh in health project and digital technology apart from collaborating in agricultural research in longer version.

ADB, he said, wants to help Bangladesh in primary education and healthcare skill development in their new five-year plan.

The ADB vice president said that ADB wants to develop a city master plan for Bangladesh to better usages of available resources.

In this connection, the Prime Minister urged them to consider upazilas in Bangladesh for their project as the government is advancing the country as Smart Bangladesh by 2041.

PMO Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin and ERD Secretary Shahriar Kader Siddik were present.

BDST: 0949 HRS, JULY 03, 2024
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