The visiting regional director of UNDP, Haol ang Xu, on a five-day visit, here, on Monday, applauded Bangladesh’s efforts in cutting down urban poverty by 13 per cent in the last four years.
“Urban poverty in seven major cities and towns came down from 42 per cent to 29 per cent during the period,” a UNDP report said.
The UNDP is supporting a program-Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project (UPPR) – along with the governments of Bangladesh and United Kingdom and UN Habitat aims to lift three million urban poor out of poverty.
The visiting UNDP official visited the Korail slum, one of the largest slums of the country, to see for himself the progress of the program.
Later, the UNDP official met Finance Minster Abul Maal Abdul Muhit at the Planning Commission. They discussed the government’s policy priorities, seventh five-year plan and post-2015 agenda. Emerging from the meeting the finance minister said, “UNDP is a reliable development partner. It has been highly responsive in supporting the government in taking forward the national priorities.”
The UNDP official assured Bangladesh of continuing engagement to ensure a climate resilient development approach. Xu also made a courtesy call on the foreign minister, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, at the latter’s office.
