French Ambassador to Bangladesh Jean-Marin Schuh has said their government will continue promoting climate resilient development to Bangladesh.
He said the French government will continue promoting Bangladesh’s development through Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) with an improved access to soft financing, technical expertise, and cooperation with French partners, reports UNB.
“France, through AFD, is committed to supporting Bangladesh in achieving its development goals,” said the French envoy while addressing a loan agreement signing ceremony at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) in Dhaka, on Wednesday.
Mentioning that he is quite aware of Bangladesh’s ambition to become a middle-income country by 2021, the Ambassador said, “Bangladesh is growing tremendously and its average GDP growth for the past 5 years has reached more than 7 percent.”
Few challenges such as infrastructures development, climate change mitigation, promoting innovation for digital Bangladesh, human capital development and governance have become the main priorities of the government of Bangladesh, Ambassador Schuh said.
AFD is a new donor and has started its journey in Bangladesh in 2013 with a mandate to promote green and inclusive growth. Ambassador Schuh said.
He said AFD-funded projects are 100 percent Paris Agreement compliant and generate at least 60 percent climate ‘co-benefice’.
“Despite its recent common history, AFD and the government of Bangladesh have now developed a very constructive collaboration, which needs to be pursued and expanded,” said the French envoy.
The Ambassador said the successful migration of Bangladesh's energy mix towards a low carbon trajectory is a multistep process and strengthening of a smart electrical distribution network must act as a foundation for this transformation.
Bangladesh signed a 30-million Euro (MEUR) loan agreement with AFD related to the additional financing of the power supply expansion and efficiency improvement investment program implemented by Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC).
This is an extension of the initial 100 MEUR financing provided to the DPDC to construct and modernize 14 electrical substations and the associated power lines for distribution network.
French Ambassador Schuh and Regional Director for South Asia Jacky Amprou signed the credit facility agreement on behalf of the AFD while Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Monowar Ahmad represented the government of Bangladesh at the signing ceremony held at the ERD.