The New Nation - Internet Edition

Business Report

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, hosted a seven member delegation from the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce Sectoral Associates that is visiting Bangladesh to learn from local public- private dialogue experiences. "As the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund has been running programs effectively to support and improve the public- private dialogues of the country for the last two and a half years, we have come here to learn from their experiences," said Eyessuswork Zafu, President of ECCSA.

Ethiopia, a command economy until nearly 20 years ago, has a small and fragile private sector. The government remains the biggest investor, employer, and consumer of goods and services. However, the current government is committed to private sector development for sustainable, rapid, pro-poor economic growth.

The delegation visited the district-level public- private dialogue forums in Bogra and Rajshahi. Four similar forums were established in Sylhet, Barisal, Bogra, and Rajshahi, with the support of BICF and the Asia Foundation. The public- private dialogue process includes identifying problems, creating working groups to devise solutions, and presenting solutions to the government at the forums, which take place every three months.

"Development is everybody's business," Zafu said, "And sure enough, everyone here is involved. People demonstrated they owned the issues they presented. We have learned a few things about the dialogue process that we hope to replicate in our own country." The forum was attended by representatives of government, business chambers, women's associations, banks, and civil society.

The Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce Sectoral Associates signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, opening new opportunities for business cooperation between Bangladesh and Ethiopia.

"The PPD process in Bangladesh is managed in a logical and cohesive manner, creating a mechanism for dialogue through which local stakeholders can come up with solutions suitable for them," said Laura Watson, Program Manager for the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund.