The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bangladeshi research institutions cannot conduct study on issues close to life and local needs, as they have to work the prescription of donors.

"Government has very little budget for research works. We have to conduct research with funds from donor agencies. So we have to follow their instructions, we have to fulfil their needs," said Dr KAS Murshed, a research fellow of BIDS, yesterday at a view exchange meeting with journalists.

"We can't conduct research on issues that our country at present really needs," he added. The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) is organising a two-day international conference on 'Development prospects of Bangladesh: Emerging Challenges' on December 2 at Hotel Sheraton on the occasion of silver jubilee of the organisation. Noted economists, researchers, academics, representatives of multinational donor agencies and civil society organisations from home and abroad will participate in the conference.

BIDS Director General Dr Quazi Shahabuddin said the conference will discuss the development so far Bangladesh could achieve and the challenges it is facing.

"At present we are standing at the crossroads of development. If we can achieve 7 per cent growth the country will turn into middle income country within 2015," he said.

BIDS research fellow Dr Asaduzzaman and Dr Rushidan Islam Rahman also spoke on the occasion.