Waliur Rahman speaks to DOT
In the year 2050, Bangladesh’s income per capita will be almost twenty thousand dollars. We will become the 30th economy in the world. The country’s economy will balloon to 3.3 trillion dollars – a thirteen-fold increase!
Awami League will maintain the trend of development. Everything is written in its manifesto. At least 90 percent of 2008 and 2014 manifestos were fulfilled under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. Similarly, the manifesto announced on 2018 will also be realized.
There are a hundred industrial parks being constructed in the country. We will transform into a small and then medium industrial nation thanks to the current rate of industrial growth in the garments sector. We will become a middle income country. From 2015 to 2030, our per capital income will become five to seven thousand dollars. It will bloom to $18,000 within 2041. This is our goal.
The countryside will begin to experience the same benefits as those from cities. The key to our economic development is our rural development. Currently, the number of poor in our villages is very low. In the next five to ten years, poverty will be reduced to zero. The $350 per capita income that existed in 2008 is now nearly $2,000, and for which Bangladesh has become a role model.
Our government’s number one challenge is to make our foreign policy more proactive. It has to be visionary. We will be in a leadership role. We have to bridge a connection with Asian and South-Asian nations. Problem number two is to strengthen the country economically. Number three is improving digital facilities and developing technology in order to find a place in the world market. Fourth-most important job is to safeguard the political stability we have created in the country. Fifth is to incentivize a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, drugs and terrorism. I hope that there will be no fundamental agenda in this country against our pro-liberation forces.
Waliur Rahman is a diplomat and a former Foreign Secretary
Interview by Amirul Islam
Translation by Abrar Hussain