Experts for national platform to promote green growth

Bangladesh needs to adopt different approaches and strategies and form a national platform with stakeholders, including the government, private sector and academia, to promote eco-friendly industries for green growth, experts told a dialogue yesterday.

“Though the private sector is playing an important role to transform the industrial sector into a green one, it will not be possible for them to do so alone,” said Prof M Abu Eusuf of the University of Dhaka.

The government should start focusing on developing a comprehensive green growth strategy, said Eusuf, chairman of the Department of Development Studies, while presenting the findings of a research on green business.

The Asia Foundation and the university's Centre on Budget and Policy organised the dialogue on “the role of the private sector in promoting green business in Bangladesh” at the NBR conference room. The research was conducted by the Asia Foundation and the Centre on Budget and Policy.

Analysing fiscal and policy barriers faced by the RMG sector in promoting green growth, the study pointed out that the government has not proactively developed policy measures to support green growth.

The study concluded that developing a comprehensive green growth strategy requires integration and active participation of private sector actors with necessary policy support from the public sector.

Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, chairman of the National Board of Revenue, stressed that the private sector, as the key beneficiary, should create pressure on the government to form a regulatory body to oversee and promote green business.

“We are ready to help the industries which are playing a very important role in the country's economy. Not only garment, every potential sector including leather should be incentivised,” he said.

Syed Nasim Manzur, managing director of Apex Footwear Ltd, SK Sur Chowdhury, banking reform adviser of Bangladesh Bank, and Sara L Taylor, country representative in Bangladesh at the Asia Foundation, also spoke.