Bangladesh to be poverty free by 2030: Finance minister

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Sunday said Bangladesh will be a hunger and poverty free country within the next decade, reports UNB.

"We firmly believe that we'll achieve double digit growth within the next five years," he said at an international conference on Harnessing Blockchain Technology for Development (Unleashing the potential of Bangladesh for Blockchain Applications) at BICC in the capital.

The Bangladesh Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) organised the two-day programme to further promote growth, inclusion, service delivery and smart governance.

In the inaugural session, Kamal said Bangladesh has the best GDP growth among South Asian countries. "GDP growth will increase by 1 per cent each year after completion of the Padma Bridge," he said.

The finance minister urged international investors to invest more in Bangladesh. "You can use Bangladesh as a safe place for investment. The production cost is lower than in other countries. Besides, there's a location advantage too," the minister said.

Mamohan Parkash, country director of ADB, said Bangladesh has made rapid progress in the last 10 years. The country is today seen as a model for both social and economic development.

"We, therefore, thought that it is timely 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 development," he said.

Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, power, energy and mineral resources affairs advisor to the prime minister, Farida Nasreen, secretary (acting) of Economic Relations Division of the finance ministry, and others also spoke at the programme.