<i>Race is on, no time to lose</i>

Investors may bypass Bangladesh for other less attractive locations unless the country is able to achieve political stability soon, speakers said at an international conference held in the US recently.
All the participants agreed that the political gridlock Bangladesh has faced is a huge barrier and must be overcome. There is not much time to lose since the race is on, they said.
Policy makers, businesses, civil society and NGO community should work together to redouble their efforts to attain much higher growth with equity, they said.
The conference on Bangladesh was organised by Bangladesh Development Initiative (BDI), a US based think tank and advocacy group of Bangladeshi professionals in the US, at the University of California Berkeley campus on February 22-24.
The Center for South Asia Studies (CSAS), a leading research organisation on South Asia studies, co-hosted the conference, according to a statement.
The overall theme of the conference was "bridging the policy-action divide in Bangladesh: challenges and prospects for Bangladesh's future."
Around 20 academic sessions with 50 papers were organised covering a broad spectrum of challenges faced by Bangladesh economy and society.
To emphasise the policy and real world aspects of these challenges, nine panels and plenary sessions were organised on subjects such as economic growth through inclusive development, mitigating corruption, gender issues, environment and urbanisation, environmental justice, and capital goods industry.
These panel sessions were designed to elicit maximum debate and conversations between the audience and the experts on the panel, the statement said.
The conference featured a number of keynote speakers and other distinguished guests.
Rehman Sobhan, a renowned Bangladeshi economist, spoke on the political economy of development and the injustice of poverty, while Prof David Lewis, who is the author of a recent book on Bangladesh, spoke on the role of non-government organisations and civil society.
Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, the leading English-language newspaper in Bangladesh, focuses on the role of the media in enhancing democracy and development.
Advocate Rizwana Hasan, who recently won the Magsaysay Award, spoke on her work in seeking environmental justice in Bangladesh.
Other dignitaries who attended the conference include Dan W Mozena, the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Akramul Qader, the Bangladesh ambassador to the US, Prof Lawrence Cohen, director of the CSAC, and Prof George Breslauer, executive vice chancellor and provost of UC Berkeley campus.
The recognition and award part of the programme featured the first ever BDI Lifetime Achievement Award given to Prof Rehman Sobhan.
UC Berkeley professor and eminent development economist, Pranab Bardhan, joined BDI President Munir Quddus to introduce Prof Sobhan.
Following the award, Prof Sobhan delivered a riveting lecture tracing the history of development efforts in Bangladesh over the last 50 years.
He spoke of his early work with colleagues that led to the “two economy theory” which provided the theory behind the political demands eventually leading to the struggle for justice and the creation of Bangladesh.
In introducing Prof Sobhan, Munir Quddus read messages from Prof Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate in Economics (1998), and Prof Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate in Peace (2006).
A town hall session on the Shahbagh protests now taking place in Dhaka was organised with Mahfuz Anam and Rizwana Hasan leading the conversation. Participants who took part in the protests and student bloggers at UC Berkeley brought their perspectives to the conversation.