Staff Reporter
Local Government, Rural Development and Coop-eratives Minister Dr Ab-dul Moyeen Khan yes-terday laid emphasis on further strengthening and expanding development cooperation with France.
He said this when French Ambassador to Bangla-desh Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet called on him at the Bangladesh Secretar-iat.
During the meeting, they discussed various issues of mutual interest be-tween the two countries.
The meeting discussed increasing French in-vestment in Bangladesh, strengthening coopera-tion in ongoing devel-opment projects, assis-tance for new projects and expanding trade and commerce.
They also discussed the Bangladesh govern-ment’s purchase of 10 aircraft from France’s Airbus, expressing satis-faction over the matter.
Dr Moyeen Khan said France’s longstanding cooperation has played an important role in de-veloping Bangladesh’s infrastructure, water sup-ply, sanitation and urban management.
Expanding this coopera-tion could take the de-velopment partnership between the two coun-tries to a new level, he added.
Currently, four projects are being implemented with the French devel-opment agency Agence Française de Dé-veloppement (AFD) in collaboration with the Local Government Divi-sion.
These are- the Saidabad Water Treatment Plant (Phase III), Dhaka Envi-ronmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project (Phase III), Chattogram Metropolitan Sanitation Project for North Kattali Catchment, and Improv-ing Urban Governance and Infrastructure Pro-ject.
France is financing around Tk 12,500 crore as project assistance for the these projects.
Besides, an initiative has been taken to implement the “Water Supply, In-clusive Sanitation and Hygiene Project in Urban and Towns of Bangla-desh” with French assis-tance to improve water supply, inclusive sanita-tion and hygiene in ur-ban and municipal areas of Bangladesh.
The meeting emphasized on investment and busi-ness expansion between the two countries, effec-tive implementation of development projects and creating new areas of cooperation in the future.
Local Government Divi-sion Secretary Shahidul Hasan, Director General of the Planning, Moni-toring, Evaluation and Inspection Wing Shibir Bichitra Barua and senior officials of the ministry were present.
