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Civil society members Wednesday stressed the need for reaching an average per capita income level of around $ 1000 and poverty level at below 20 per cent of the population based on GDP growth rate of at least 8.00 per cent per annum in the next fifteen years to join the ranks of middle-income countries by 2021.
They, however, said with the implementation of the goals of 'Vision 2021 for Bangladesh' this can be possible.
Civil society men said this while participating in an expert group consultation session on "Vision 2021 for Bangladesh: Goal 3: To be a Poverty-Migrated Middle-income Country" arranged by the Nagorik Committee-2006 in collaboration with the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Noted economist Wahiduddin Mahmud and MCCI President Latifur Rahman were co-chairpersons of the session while Debapriya Bhattacharya, executive director of CPD, presented the keynote paper.
Debapriya said ten points of the goal: 3 of Vision 2021 includes greater productivity, diversification and commercialisation of agriculture; accelerated growth in the industry and service sectors; an improved investment climate; increased global market access of Bangladesh firms; a diversified export base; development of small-town growth hubs via rural non-farm industries and services; effective urban planning; sound financial institutions and greater financial depth, a skilled workforce and greater foreign exchange earnings from the export of semi-skilled and skilled labour force.
The outline of the vision paper 2021 for Bangladesh has been drafted on the basis of recommendations and aspirations propagated by a large number of people attending the regional civil society dialogue at various places of the country, he added.
Taking part in the discussion CPD Chairman Rehman Sobhan said the huge population of the Bangladesh would be her key asset in future if turned into a human resource.
It is time to give due attention to human resource development of the country, he said.
Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) President Qazi Khaliquzzaman said failure of the leadership is one of the key hurdles to the development process. Leadership quality must be improved for hastening country's economic development, he said.
Wahiduddin Mahmud said, "we are deliberating on the future economic condition of the country. There is no alternative to creating pressure on the government to give due attention to the interest of the people." Mentioning some political crises, he said natural calamities are also hampering the country's economic growth. A joint effort is needed to remove all these crises, he said.
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