Bangladesh needs stable public policies for sustainable industrialization: UNIDO DG, Lack of proper infrastructure key barrier to development; he says

By AKM Moinuddin

Dhaka, June 8 (UNB) - Bangladesh needs stable public policies with a risk-free political environment to attract large volume foreign investment and drive sustainable industrialization, Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Dr Kandeh K Yumkella said on Tuesday.
“Stable public policy is very important for sustainable industrialization because it takes an average of three to five years to complete a major investment process….companies are very concerned about having stable public policy,” Dr Kandeh said while talking to journalists at the VIP Lounge of the Shah Jalal International Airport today.
Replying to a question the UNIDO head said lack of proper infrastructure is the key barrier to industrialization, which is common in other developing countries.
“The investors need to be convinced that you (Bangladesh) have solid infrastructure on the ground. And secondly Bangladesh needs confidence that investment assets will be protected….I think Bangladesh is way ahead in establishing such a level of confidence,” Dr Kandeh, who came here on three-visit said.
He emphasized good public policies that provide incentive and regulations to ensure that green technologies are adopted. “Bangladesh needs to adopt green technologies to make its growing industrial sector sustainable.”
Expressing satisfaction over the implementation of the UNIDO-supported programmes in Bangladesh, the UN body chief said it is working together with Bangladesh to set up a National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) which will look at the whole concept of ‘greening industry.’
“The NCPC will be based on four major pillars--- reduce the use of natural resources, to be energy efficient, to optimise water use, and reducing effluents, which will all be part of our ‘greening industry’,” he said, adding that they will also help Bangladesh in managing clinical waste.
He said they have identified some additional areas of cooperation including medical waste management in discussion with the Bangladesh government.
“We’re looking at the whole area of hazardous medical waste, which is a growing problem in a numbers of countries. We’ll be developing a new programme dealing with hazardous medical waste. Your Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also concern about it,” the UNIDO chief said.
On the downward trend of funding, he said they would advocate internationally for funding though bilateral funding is decreasing. The UN is advocating the private sector across the world to come and invest in Bangladesh.
“There are lots of international banks and companies which are looking for opportunities for green investment… it’s a growing area now internationally. We’re working together with public and private entities to give confidence so that a large volume of investment can be attracted,” the UN body chief said.
Appreciating the remarkable progress of the country’s readymade garments and pharmaceutical industries, Dr Kandeh said: “Bangladesh can be an example to other developing countries as it has proven its capacity in these sectors.”
He said there is no doubt that poverty cannot be eradicated without industrialization.
“I’ve visited some factories, it was really impressive to see what your country has done in expanding industrial production….some of your companies are very competitive globally and they are producing international standard products and exporting to major international markets,” he said.
Talking about the outcome of his three-day visit here, Kandeh said: “We’re very pleased to come here. We had very clear reasons, first of all we reviewed the programs that we’ve been doing here, to see what we’ve achieved, what’s the opinion of Bangladeshi institutions and government.”
He said they wanted to engage in dialogue with the government and all stakeholders in the private sector as well, and inform relevant parties about their concept of greening industry.
“We also explored new areas where the Bangladesh government believes they need our support for implementing its Vision 2021,” he said.
The UN body chief thinks his visit has been very fruitful with their work showing some very solid results which are financed by the European Union and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
END/UNB/AKM/