UNB, Dhaka :Experts at a views-exchange meeting here on Thursday suggested that export diversification, employment generation and creating skilled workforce should get the priority in the proposed Seventh Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) to take the country’s economic growth to the desired level.They also recommended that the new five-year plan should address the leather sector’s problems, especially the leather footwear, as it can emerge as a vibrant sector like the RMG.The Planning Division and the General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission jointly organised the views-exchange meeting on the draft Seventh Five-Year Plan at the city’s National Economic Council.Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the function, while Planning Division Secretary Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam moderated it.GED member Shamsul Alam made a presentation on the proposed 7th five-year plan with the theme of ‘Accelerating Growth: Empowering Every Citizen’.Speaking on the occasion, former governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Mohammed Farashuddin said the country’s huge people are still unemployed as only 36-37 percent people have jobs. “Some 20 lakh people enter the country’s labour force every year. So, all our policies and plans should be employment-oriented one,” he said.The theme of the upcoming five-year plan should be ‘Accelerating Growth: Social Protection and Equity’, he said adding that he has not found the word ‘welfare state’ anywhere of the draft of the five-year plan, though Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wanted to make Bangladesh a welfare state.He said, export diversification, land management and decentralisation of the administration should be there in the plan for achieving a higher economic growth.Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Prof Dr Mustafizur Rahman said Bangladesh economy has the capacity to take its GDP growth to 8-10 percent.”We must reach our desired position. In many cases, the targets fall short of the expectation,” he said adding that the expected targets are not fixed fearing criticism for possible failure in achieving the targets.He said, the leather sector, especially its footwear, has huge potentials. “If the sector is properly taken care of, it’ll be another sector like the RMG.”Prof Dr Barkat-E Khuda of Dhaka University said the targets in the upcoming plan should not be unrealistic as the country lacks the skilled workforce and the new five-year plan should also focus on that.Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Bangladesh still can maintain the GDP growth over 6 percent despite global economic downtrend.He said, neighbouring India’s GDP growth has come down to 4 percent, while China lost half of its GDP growth, but Bangladesh has remarkable achievements in all sectors despite external adverse impacts of the global downtrend.Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Rashidan Islam Rahman, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Shahidullah Shikder, Chairman of Unnyan Onneshan Prof Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir and North South University Professor (Economics) Gour Gobinda Goswami, among others, spoke on the occasion.
