Economist Rehman Sobhan on Tuesday said that most of the proposals suggested by the task force on re-strategising the economy might be revisited by the next elected political government, but the elected government would revisit those proposals keeping their own interests in mind.
He said that the interim government would not be able to accomplish all the proposals and the next elected government had to revisit those, but the will of the interim government and that of political parties was not same.
Appreciating the suggestions made by the 12-member task force, he however, said that the interim government could only start the reforms and left those for the elected government to finish.
Referring to the ongoing reform in the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, Rehman Sobhan said that establishing one stop service in BIDA would be a futile exercise because there would be many roadblocks.
The new elected government would claim that they make the one stop service of BIDA fully functional, said the economist on the closing session of the two-day seminar on the 鈥楻ecommendations by the task force on re-strategising the economy鈥�.
The task force, formed on September 10 past year following the ouster of the Awami League regime amid a mass uprising, submitted strategies to boost the economy and mobilise resources for equitable and sustainable development on January 30.
Reahman Sobhan called the present task force different from the one he had led in 1991 following the fall of military dictator Ershad.
The previous one was supply driven since Rehman Sobhan proposed formation of the task force in consultation with main stream political parties.
The current one is demand driven as it was constituted following the uprising aiming at ending all kinds of discrepancies from society, he said.
Abdul Muyeed Chowdhurym, chairman of the Public Administration Reform Commission, Rounaq Jahan, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the Transparency International Bangladesh, and Zonayed Saki, chief coordinator of Ganosamhati Andolan, spoke about their views on reforms.
Iftekharuzzaman said that reforms in political parties were imperative to break the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and businesses that was still active.
鈥楽alman F Rahman is replaced by a new one,鈥� he said.
Zonayed Saki expressed optimism about reforms in political parties, saying that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had announced a 31-point programme.
He, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the interim government, saying that the interim government could not make any inroad into reform.
KAS Murshid, chairman of the task force, moderated the session titled 鈥楪overnance and the way forward鈥�.
