DHAKA, 25 April 2004 — With the European Union expanding eastward next month, Bangladesh’s slice of aid pie might decline in the near future, as the new less developed member countries could eat up a sizeable chunk of the posh club’s aid package.
Against the backdrop of plummeting inflow of foreign aid, the perceived fund cut from one of the major donors could affect the country’s health, education and rural development sectors, economists and veteran diplomats said in Dhaka yesterday.
But, officials of the European Commission in Dhaka allayed this apprehension saying that the enlargement of the group is not “at the cost of poor nations”.
Government officials have also ruled out any possibility of aid diversion on the heels of the greatest influx by far in the history of the EU. Delegation official Ann Marchal dismissed the fear of aid cut as “misperception”, saying the fund disbursement trend in recent years showed that the EU was not depriving the rest of the world.
Joint Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Shafiqul Islam has looked at the changing scenario from a positive angle. He saw in the EU expansion new opportunities for more aid as the union’s coffer would also expand.
Referring to the government’s shift of paradigm, the official said, it is giving priority to trade rather than aid.
“We are now focusing on building sustainable institutions, he said, stressing on need-based projects.
The EC is providing support for restructuring the Export Promotion Bureau and Tariff Commission and setting up of the World Trade Organization cell and Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute, he added.
