CA leaves for Davos today
Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed leaves Dhaka today for Switzerland to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The three-day meeting will begin in Davos tomorrow.
This is the first time Bangladesh has been invited to attend at the head of government level the annual gathering of world's top financiers, bankers, leaders of commerce and industry, academics, thinkers, politicians and statesmen.
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said the participation of the chief adviser in the World Economic Forum in Davos will greatly enhance the international image of Bangladesh.
"This invitation has been issued because the World Economic Forum believes that Bangladesh has a good story to tell the global audience, a story of positive social transformation and development reforms and innovative changes through ideas that have evolved domestically," he said.
The CA will take part in a plenary discussion at the Davos Congress Centre on January 24 on "the quest for peace and stability" along with some key leaders of South and Central Asia.
He will hold meetings with European, American and Asian political and business leaders, as well as with leaders of some fellow Least Developed Countries (LDCs) mainly from Asia.
Bangladesh is currently the chair of the LDCs and Fakhruddin is expected to use this occasion to press for duty-free, quota-free access of LDC products to world markets.
He will also meet international media personalities, and host working lunches and breakfasts for potential investors in Bangladesh.
Iftekhar said Davos is a unique event and not a structured international multilateral conference like the United Nations General Assembly.
The CA in his various discussions and meetings will focus on such issues as institutional reforms for sustainable democracy, the fight against corruption, the requirement of peace to achieve development, climate change and its impact on developing countries and food security.
He will also stress the need for greater market access for LDC products, the importance of education and women's empowerment in social change and on the special responsibility of the developed countries towards those who are less developed.
The CA will also highlight Bangladesh's responsible international role as a major UN peacekeeper in stabilising strife-torn parts of the world, particularly Africa.
He will attend the meetings in Davos on January 24 and 25. He is scheduled to return home on January 26.
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and Press Secretary to the Chief Adviser Syed Fahim Munaim are on the chief adviser's delegation.
They will be joined in Davos by Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to Geneva Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya.
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