Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman Sunday came down heavily on the World Bank for proposing almost same policy prescriptions for South Asian and African countries, ignoring their varied social and economic conditions. "The World Bank offers Bangladesh the identical policy prescription which they had proposed to Nigeria or Sierra Leone without considering that it may not be suitable for Bangladesh's ground realities," he said after a meeting with the newly-appointed Resident Representative of UNDP Renata Lok Dessallien at his secretariat office, report agencies. Talking to newsmen after the meeting, the finance minister suggested that the policy prescription should be given based on condition of financial institutions, regulatory bodies and other economic components of a particular country or region. Saifur, however, appreciated the UNDP projects which he said are "development friendly" to Bangladesh. During the meeting, the UNDP envoy assured the minister of continuing its development support to Bangladesh in various sectors, including the human resources development. Lauding various development achievements of Bangladesh, the new UNDP envoy also told the press there are still some other challenges the government has to face. "Bangladesh has very good track record in terms of human resources development and economy but as a developing country its next challenge should be more development," Dessallien said. She, however, identified some sectors, like sanitation, education, family planning, health and nutrition, where Bangladesh need to achieve faster development.
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