Bangladesh potential attracts WEF

PM attends forum’s 47th annual meeting today

The World Economic Forum (WEF), a Switzerland-based international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of the society, is getting interested in Bangladesh because it, despite many challenges, has the potential to emerge as a larger global economy.

The WEF invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to attend the 47th annual meeting in Davos from today till Friday under the theme 'Responsive and Responsible Leadership' reflects the importance it attaches to Bangladesh as a country. Hasina is already in Switzerland to attend the meeting to be opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
WEF and its meetings, which are the organisation’s signature events, do certain things that no existing international or inter-governmental platform does. WEP, especially its meetings in Davos, is seemingly the only platform that brings the key actors and stakeholders of global manufacturing, service supply and value chains together to share their perspectives to improve the state of the world.
Over the years, WEF has been successful in creating an atmosphere based on mutual trust and respect between global businesses, states and the civil society where all converge to provide their inputs. However, the organisation does not hesitate in taking up hard and challenging issues like geo-politics, security, terrorism, human rights, climate change and other complex issues. 
Due to its, kind of, unique nature of activities, WEF, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, is recognised as a platform non-existent somewhere else. That is why large and emerging economies are increasingly showing their interest to engage in the discussions.
And, the WEF reports like its annual competitiveness and global risks reports are recognised and valued by almost all inter-governmental platforms including the UN system and OECD.
As far as Bangladesh is concerned, it is, indeed, an opportunity to reap the benefits from the annual meeting, a global platform where leaders from across businesses, governments, international organisations, academia and civil society engage.
This is for the first time the WEF has invited an elected Head of the Government from Bangladesh to attend its annual meeting. Earlier, Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief of the military-backed Caretaker Government, attended the meeting in 2008. 
Through informal interactions with the WEF team, the Foreign Ministry officials could realise that WEF leadership and high-level planning team recognise that Bangladesh has a vision to graduate from LDC to MIC (middle income country) and it is heading towards the right direction. According to the WEF, Bangladesh is also creating a strong foundation for sustained growth and sustainable development of the economy as well as society. As of now, based on different socioeconomic indicators, Bangladesh, to some extent, is a large economy and has the potential to be a larger economy as well as market. And, with a certain distinctive features – linguistically, ethically, religiously and pluralistically – of its people and a large youth workforce, Bangladesh holds considerable importance for regional and global economic landscape in the coming decades.  
Bangladesh’s participation in the meeting is all but certain to attract attention to it and make addition to its growing profile worldwide. The Prime Minister’s engagements and interactions at Davos with cross section of leaders and actors are most likely to open up possibilities and make people take note of it. The PM’s engagements may also lead large multinational companies and corporate leaders to assess and profile Bangladesh seriously than they do at present, which will ensure higher inflow of investments in the country.
While in Switzerland, the Prime Minister along with Heads of 45 states and governments, including Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Peru, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar and heads of WTO, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD, the World Bank, IMF and ADB will engage herself in a wide range of engagements.
The Prime Minister will attend the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum at the Congress Centre in Davos today. Before the opening of the plenary, WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwann will call on Sheikh Hasina.
She will also join a workshop titled ‘Shaping a New Water Economy’ at the same venue on the day. In the afternoon, she will attend an interactive session on ‘Harnessing Regional Cooperation in South Asia’ at the Congress Centre.
Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will take part in an event titled ‘Worlds Underwater’ as well as the plenary session on ‘Leading the Fight against Climate Change’.
On Thursday, she will attend an interactive session titled ‘Informal Gathering of the World Economic Leaders: Responsive and Responsible Leadership in a Multipolar World’.
Besides, the Prime Minister will attend an event titled ‘Women Leaders Dinner: New Frontiers of Leadership’ to be held at Schatzalp of Davos-Klosters in the evening the same day.
She will leave Switzerland for Bangladesh on Friday.

 

 

Bangladesh potential attracts WEF

PM attends forums 47th annual meeting today

The World Economic Forum (WEF), a Switzerland-based international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of the society, is getting interested in Bangladesh because it, despite many challenges, has the potential to emerge as a larger global economy. The WEF invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to attend the 47th annual meeting in Davos from today till Friday under the theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership reflects the importance it attaches to Bangladesh as a country. Hasina is already in Switzerland to attend the meeting to be opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping. WEF and its meetings, which are the organisations signature events, do certain things that no existing international or inter-governmental platform does. WEP, especially its meetings in Davos, is seemingly the only platform that brings the key actors and stakeholders of global manufacturing, service supply and value chains together to share their perspectives to improve the state of the world. Over the years, WEF has been successful in creating an atmosphere based on mutual trust and respect between global businesses, states and the civil society where all converge to provide their inputs. However, the organisation does not hesitate in taking up hard and challenging issues like geo-politics, security, terrorism, human rights, climate change and other complex issues. Due to its, kind of, unique nature of activities, WEF, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, is recognised as a platform non-existent somewhere else. That is why large and emerging economies are increasingly showing their interest to engage in the discussions. And, the WEF reports like its annual competitiveness and global risks reports are recognised and valued by almost all inter-governmental platforms including the UN system and OECD. As far as Bangladesh is concerned, it is, indeed, an opportunity to reap the benefits from the annual meeting, a global platform where leaders from across businesses, governments, international organisations, academia and civil society engage. This is for the first time the WEF has invited an elected Head of the Government from Bangladesh to attend its annual meeting. Earlier, Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief of the military-backed Caretaker Government, attended the meeting in 2008. Through informal interactions with the WEF team, the Foreign Ministry officials could realise that WEF leadership and high-level planning team recognise that Bangladesh has a vision to graduate from LDC to MIC (middle income country) and it is heading towards the right direction. According to the WEF, Bangladesh is also creating a strong foundation for sustained growth and sustainable development of the economy as well as society. As of now, based on different socioeconomicindicators, Bangladesh, to some extent, is a large economy and has the potential to be a larger economy as well as market. And, with a certain distinctive features linguistically, ethically, religiously and pluralistically of its people and a large youth workforce, Bangladesh holds considerable importance for regional and global economic landscape in the coming decades. Bangladeshs participation in the meeting is all but certain to attract attention to it and make addition to its growing profile worldwide. The Prime Ministers engagements and interactions at Davos with cross section of leaders and actors are most likely to open up possibilities and make people take note of it. The PMs engagements may also lead large multinational companies and corporate leaders to assess and profile Bangladesh seriously than they do at present, which will ensure higher inflow of investments in the country. While in Switzerland, the Prime Minister along with Heads of 45 states and governments, including Sweden, Canada, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Peru, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar and heads of WTO, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD, the World Bank, IMF and ADB will engage herself in a wide range of engagements. The Prime Minister will attend the opening plenary of the World Economic Forum at the Congress Centre in Davos today. Before the opening of the plenary, WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwann will call on Sheikh Hasina. She will also join a workshop titled Shaping a New Water Economy at the same venue on the day. In the afternoon, she will attend an interactive session on Harnessing Regional Cooperation in South Asia at the Congress Centre. Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will take part in an event titled Worlds Underwater as well as the plenary session on Leading the Fight against Climate Change. On Thursday, she will attend an interactive session titled Informal Gathering of the World Economic Leaders: Responsive and Responsible Leadership in a Multipolar World. Besides, the Prime Minister will attend an event titled Women Leaders Dinner: New Frontiers of Leadership to be held at Schatzalp of Davos-Klosters in the evening the same day. She will leave Switzerland for Bangladesh on Friday.