Staff Reporter :The government is working on developing a “National Policy on Development Cooperation” with a view to provide a consolidated framework for mobilizing and managing development cooperation in the country. The Economic Relations Division (ERD) has recently developed a draft of the policy, a release of Finance Ministry said Thursday. The draft policy has outlined the government priorities regarding the provision of foreign assistance, including preferred aid modalities, basic principles to be followed, the main procedures as well as corresponding roles and responsibilities for the provision, acceptance, coordination and management of foreign assistance. It is expected that the above mentioned policy will provide a vehicle for the government to demonstrate greater leadership in the overall development cooperation process and will also enable the government to derive greater benefit from overseas development assistance.The draft policy is now publicly accessible at- http:/erd.gov.bd/site/notices/50d1cf69-db03-4b62-9cea-624336508586/Draft-National-Policy-on-Development-Cooperation-for-comments. Any interested individual or organization can forward their comments and reviews on the draft policy by e-mail to [email protected] or by postal mail to Additional Secretary, Development Effectiveness Wing, Economic Relations Division, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka 1207 by May 15, 2016.The government earlier tasked an inter-ministerial committee under the leadership of the ERD Senior Secretary to develop the policy. Later, a draft outline of the policy was developed under the supervision of that inter-ministerial committee. Afterwards, extensive consultations were held on this draft outline within ERD as well as with local government representatives, civil service officials particularly associated with foreign aided projects, NGOs and civil society organizations working at the district and divisional level. Inputs from these consultations have been integrated in the draft.
