World Bank Vice President for South Asia Hartwig Schafer is set to arrive in Dhaka on Sunday to further deepen the longstanding partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank Group and discuss about ways of helping the country to cope with the Rohingya crisis, reports BSS.
It’s his first visit to Bangladesh since taking office on July 1, 2018, said a media statement by the multi-lateral lender.
During his stay in Bangladesh, Schafer will visit the Rohingya camps and meet with local government officials, civil society and non-governmental organization representatives in Cox’s Bazar.
He will also meet with senior government officials, including finance minister, water resource minister as well as the private sector and civil society leaders.
Schafer will participate in the launching ceremony of a new World Bank report on ‘South Asia’s Hotspots: The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards’.
He will also visit a World Bank supported project, which is upgrading a unit in the Ghorashal power station to more than double the unit’s electricity generation capacity.
“Despite its own challenges, Bangladesh has shown great generosity by sheltering nearly one million Rohingya people. The World Bank is working closely with the government to help address the needs of the Rohingya until their safe return to Myanmar and help build the country’s capacity to deal with the crisis,” the statement quoted Schafer saying.
He said Bangladesh has a remarkable story of cutting extreme poverty to half in record time.
“Other countries can learn from Bangladesh’s many development innovations and successes. I look forward to meeting our partners and see firsthand the country’s journey to economic growth,” said Schafer.
The World Bank has mobilised up to $400 million on grant terms to help Bangladesh deal with the crisis.
It has approved the first two operations-totalling about $75 million in grants-to provide health services and education to the Rohingya, many of whom are children, youth or women.