Madam Chair,
Mr President of IFAD
Distinguished Delegates
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to address the 34th Session of the Governing Council of IFAD. On behalf of the Bangladesh Delegation, I would like to congratulate you, Madam Chair and the members of the bureau, on your well deserved election.

At the outset, please allow me to express my sincere appreciation to IFAD for selecting the theme ‘Investing in Youth. IFAD has always been at the forefront of fight against hunger and rural poverty. From this perspective, we consider the theme both timely and relevant.

Madam Chair,

Despite its vulnerability to climate change, Bangladesh has achieved a steady GDP growth of nearly 6% annually over the last decade. The present Government under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina is committed to eradicate poverty and ensure food security though realizing the “Vision 2021”. The essence of this Vision is to achieve the status of a middle-income country by 2021, when Bangladesh will complete 50 years of its independence.

Despite an endemic vulnerability to natural disasters, land degradation and a declining cultivated area, Bangladesh has nearly the objectives of self-sufficiency in food production. Increased disaster preparedness, emergency agriculture rehabilitation measures and lean-season targeted wage employment programmes have played crucial roles in ensuring minimum food entitlements for the rural poor, particularly rural youths, even during the crisis.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is often challenging for the developing countries to create rural employment targeting the youth. They have to be given training on agricultural production, together with necessary resources and services. In Bangladesh, the Department of Youth Development alone has so far imparted skill improvement training to more than three million young male and female on various trades. Out of the trained youth, about two million are now self-employed. The Department has also distributed about $130 million dollars as loans to about $800 thousand targeted beneficiaries.

The Government committed to provide employment for minimum 100 days per year to at least one unemployed young male and female member of each family. Under and employment guarantee scheme, each and every citizen having the ability to work will be registered. A programme titled ‘National Service’ has also been taken up to provide employment to the entire youth community having the secondary level of education and above, and aged between 18-35 years.

Madam Chair,

IFAD has been an important development partner of Bangladesh and has made a significant contribution to its poverty alleviation, rural infrastructure building and agricultural development. My Government has always provided full support to IFAD to pursue its mission in Bangladesh’s election to the IFAD Executive Board will be catalytic to enhance collaboration between us. I am confident that IFAD will continue to play a significant role in supporting the rural development programmes in the developing countries focusing on agricultural technology, access to market, infrastructure development, poor people’s access to resources and increasing women’s economic opportunities. We deeply appreciate the leadership of President Kanayo Nwanze in this regard.

Thank you all

19 February 2011