WB Vice President due Sunday

World Bank (WB) Vice President for the South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer arrives tomorrow here to further deepen the longstanding partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank Group and discuss about the way of helping the country to cope with the Rohingya crisis, BSS reported.

This is Schafer’s first visit to Bangladesh since assuming his position on July 1, 2018, said a WB press release here today.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Schafer will visit the Rohingya camps and meet with local government officials, civil society and non-governmental organization representatives in Cox’s Bazar.

He will also meet with senior government officials, including the Finance Minister, the Water Resource Minister as well as the private sector and civil society leaders.

Schafer will participate in the launching ceremony of a new World Bank report on “South Asia’s Hotspots: The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards.”

He will also visit a World Bank supported project, which is upgrading a unit in the Ghorashal power station to more than double the unit’s electricity generation capacity.

“Despite its own challenges, Bangladesh has shown great generosity by sheltering nearly one million Rohingya people. The World Bank is working closely with the government to help address the needs of the Rohingya until their safe return to Myanmar and help build the country’s capacity to deal with the crisis,” the press release quoted Schafer as saying.

He said Bangladesh has a remarkable story of cutting extreme poverty to half in record time.

“Other countries can learn from Bangladesh’s many development innovations and successes. I look forward to meeting our partners and see firsthand the country’s journey to economic growth,” said Schafer.

The World Bank has mobilized up to $400 million on grant terms to help Bangladesh deal with the crisis.

It has approved the first two operations-totaling about $75 million in grants-to provide health services and education to the Rohingya, many of whom are children, youth or women.