The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Managing Director of the World Bank Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday announced in Dhaka that the Bank would take up the case of Bangladesh with Indian authorities to ensure the supply of five lakh metric tonnes of rice committed and improvement of bilateral trade through reduction of trade imbalance between the two next-door neighbours.

"As World Bank we will explain the situation in this country to the Indian authorities so that trade situation as well as the rice supply will be eased," she told a pre-departure press conference at Westin hotel in the city, concluding a four-day official visit to Bnagladesh.

Appreciating the programme under taken by the Caretaker Government positively she noted that strong development progresses, including advancement on girls education, the responsible roles of the civil society and significant reform are going.

"Growth at 6.5 per cent of GDP in 2007 was respectable but Bangladesh can and must do better to reduce poverty at a faster rate," she observed.

Iweala, who, along with Bank's vice-president (South Asia) Praful C

Patel, is going to new Delhi tomorrow (Thursday), would not however detail her plan of action as the go-between to thrash out the problems.

Asked if she would ask the Indian authorities to bring down the export price of Indian rice, she said, "I am not going into details. It is not going to be government-to-government-type negotiation. We

will try to take up the case of Bangladesh."

Iweala said India has agreed to export 500,000 tons of rice to Bangladesh and some of the quantum is on the way to this country. She understood that there are some disputes over the prices of the rest quantum of rice.

"I am not sure whether I will be successful or not, but I hope that we can get our voice heard."

Earlier, during her visit to the Bank-aided projects in Jamalpur, she assured that the World Bank would help Bangladesh cope with the current price hike that hit hard the poor and vulnerable sections of society.

In reply to a question, Iweala said the price hike of commodities is not a unique phenomenon to Bangladesh. It is happening in every country of the world.

She observed that this phenomenon could be faced off in short and long-term policies.

In the long term, the WB official said, Bangladesh can provide support to the agriculture sector so farmer could produce enough to meet the requirement and adequate protection against frequent floods, cyclones and other natural disasters under the impact of climate change.

And under the short-term measure, she said, the Bank would look at ways of how it can help Bangladesh. One is her plan to raise Bangladesh's case to New Delhi for easing supply of rice and bilateral trade.

Despite repeated queries, Iweala would not agree with the notion that being an un-elected government it has become hard to tackle the price-hike situation.

"Whatever the form of government in place, every government, elected or unelected, tries to alleviate the suffering of the poor by making food available to them," she said.

The MD of the multilateral donor agency said this could be done through import of more food, releasing grains from storage and getting food from a country under a bilateral agreement.

Iweala said the Bank would try to make sure that a country of food surplus cannot put artificial restriction in the way of exporting its grain to another country or push the price high on international market.

About the adverse impact of climate change on Bangladesh, she said

Bangladesh has now a unique opportunity to seize the goodwill of the world and make its case strong.

Iweala said a global conference on the climate change would be held in London next May where Bangladesh can seek assistance from different funds of climate change for building its infrastructure to adapt to and mitigate the impact of the change in climate.

In reply to a question, she said Bangladesh and India can sit together to resolve the problem of excess water coming from melting glacier. She said the World Bank could help this dialogue.

About the Bank's effort to recover Bangladesh's stolen money from abroad, she said the Bank has launched the project for several months. Under the project, she said, the Bank will help recover the stolen money if Bangladesh can identify the country where the money has been kept.

About slowed-down GDP growth in Bangladesh, Iweala said the country suffered several shocks from floods, cyclone and increase in fuel price, resulting in loss of some points.

She appeared optimistic as she said Bangladesh has capacity to regain the lost points and attain growth rate of 7-8 percent to become a middle-income country in next 10 to 15 years.

Iweala said she was impressed to see the resilience of the Bangladeshi people to overcome the impact of the Sidr and return to work with the support of the government and donor agencies.

She appreciated institutional reforms of the caretaker government and hoped this would be pursued by next elected government to have sustainable democracy and development.

World Bank vice-president Praful C Patel and Bangladesh Country Director Xian Zhu were present.