Former governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman on Saturday said women employment and empowerment are the two key factors that contributed to the extraordinary development in all social indicators of the country.
He said, "96 per cent of women are employed while 43 per cent are in formal sector, which is one of the key reasons that Bangladesh showed extraordinary development in all social indicators," he said while addressing a roundtable discussion organised by The Business Eye at Jatiya Press Club. In the roundtable, he also mentioned about the surge in remittances, substantial reduction in poverty, increased life expectancy, and notable advancements in womens participation in the workforce.
Farida Yasmin, Editor of The Business Eye and President of the National Press Club, chaired the event, with senior journalist Syed Ishtiaqe Reza facilitating the roundtable at the Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah Hall of National Press Club focused on inclusive development was emerged as a central theme during the discussion titled "Inclusive Development in Bangladesh: Challenges and Opportunities."
Countrys eminent economist Dr Kazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed, former state minister for planning Dr Shamsul Alam, economist Prof Dr Jahangir Alam, BGMEA President Faruque Hassan, Senior Vice President of FBCCI Md Amin Helaly and ICT specialist Ajit Kumar Sarkar spoke, among others.
In the roundtable, renowned economists and top business leaders laid emphasis on establishing good governance and equality in all fields for ensuring inclusive development in line with the governments vision for advancing the economy as a whole.
Atiur Rahman emphasised on financial inclusion and inclusive development in line with the visionary words of Bangabandhu in 1972. He highlighted Bangladeshs remarkable economic growth achieved for the inclusive policies formulated by the government during the last 15 years.
Emphasizing the need for establishing good governance to address inflationary concerns by reducing income gaps, Dr Shamsul Alam articulated some major challenges ahead. For undertaking various private-sector led policies during last decade, he said, the country has made a tremendous progress in 15 years and as a result its GDP has increased to US$465 billion from $72 billion only.
