The World Bank said it will continue support Bangladesh in its quest for achieving the upper-middle income country status by ensuring green growth. Chief executive officer of the global lender Kristalina Georgieva made the assurance on Thursday winding up her two-day visit to the country, vulnerable to a changing climate, said a statement. Ms Georgieva attended the Third Executive Meeting of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) in Dhaka on July 10 as a co-chair and commended Bangladesh for its leading role in adaptation and disaster preparedness, despite being among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. “The world can learn from Bangladesh’s adaptation and strong disaster-coping mechanism. Their approach is working when we compare the recent and past natural disasters: Cyclone Bhola in 1970 killed half a million people while last May’s Cyclone Fani, of similar strength caused less than 10,” she said. But climate change will make the threat of natural disasters more frequent and intense, she said. The World Bank remains committed to helping Bangladesh improve resilience and ensure climate-smart growth, she noted. For Bangladesh, the World Bank said dealing with climate change is a development priority. With active community participation, the country has improved defensive measures, including early warning systems, cyclone shelters that double up as schools, evacuation plans, coastal embankments, reforestation schemes and increased awareness and communication, said the statement. The World Bank has supported these measures, which have reduced deaths in major storms, it added. Meanwhile, a team of the World Bank led by South Asian Senior Regional Director John Roome met state minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque on Thursday at his office. In the meeting, Mr Roome reiterated the bank’s support for implementing the projects and programmes relating to the Delta Plan. The minister, in his speech, sought investment and resource mobilisation support from the World Bank for materialising Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.
Source – Financial Express.
