Dhaka, Dec 12 (IANS): The European Union has lauded Bangladesh's progress at the third Global Social Responsibility conference in Dhaka by saying that Bangladesh is "willfully moving from aid to trade".
"Bangladesh proudly stands on its own feet, this is thanks to the hard work," bdnews24.com Friday quoted head of the EU delegation Pierre Mayaudon as saying.
The EU is the largest trade partner of Bangladesh where all goods enjoy duty-free market access.
The biggest bilateral business chamber, the Bangladesh German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BGCCI), organised the daylong conference Thursday with the support of the governments of Germany and the Netherlands.
They highlighted innovative and responsible solutions to emerging challenges of water contamination, energy shortage, waste management, and social protection issues that grow with economic progress.
Mayaudon said the EU was part of the team that had called for this global social responsibility "to emerge in Bangladesh, for the betterment of ordinary people"
He cited "sustainable compact" that the EU rolled out after a major building collapse in Bangladesh last year as the most recent such initiative.
"This profusion of economy-related initiatives underlines a paradigm shift: Bangladesh is willfully moving from aid to trade," he said.
Stating that "we all know it but the rest of the world is maybe less aware of this reality," he said: "Bangladesh is not the country it was in the Eighties when international assistance was still contributing to more than 10 percent of the GDP."
"Now it is less than 2 percent," Mayaudon continued.
The EU delegation head referred to ongoing development activities and said "it is certainly not even the country it will be in 10 years from now if you judge from so many mega projects in the making".
"They bear testimony of a quantum leap that is bringing Bangladesh into the 21st century," he said.
"The objective had been clearly set: being a middle income country by 2021 and reaching at that time a volume of $50 billion of readymade garment exports."