Germany to provide EUR 200m for dev projects

Bangladesh and Germany today signed two bilateral agreements on development cooperation with German assistance worth 200 million euros or Tk 1,846.6 crore for various development projects.

Of the total volume of the agreements, 172 million euros will be available as financial cooperation and 28 million euros for technical cooperation.

Secretary to the Economic Relations Divisions under Ministry of Finance Monowar Ahmed and German Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Fahrenholtz signed the agreements on behalf of the two governments.

The signing ceremony was attended by high officials from the German Embassy in Dhaka, the German Development Bank KfW and the German technical cooperation agencies GIZ and BGR, as well as from the government of Bangladesh.

The projects under the agreements will support Bangladesh in the following areas -- renewable energy and energy efficiency, climate change adaptation in urban areas, textile sector, water resource management, Sundarbans mangrove management plan with study and expert fund of EUR 2 million.

Germany has been providing financial and technical assistance for the development of Bangladesh since 1972, which amounts today to a total of over EUR 3 billion, according to the German Embassy in Dhaka.

German–Bangladesh Development Cooperation has a long-standing history in supporting infrastructure, health, poverty alleviation, good governance and human rights, energy efficiency and renewable energy, climate change adaptation, and recently also the Rohingyas and host communities in Cox’s Bazar district, it said.

The present agreements mark the continuation of successful bilateral cooperation and will contribute towards achieving the SDGs, said the embassy.