The 58th annual planning conference of the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development was inaugurated at the Lalmai Auditorium of the BARD in Cumilla on Saturday.
Md Ismail Hossain, secretary, routine responsibilities, Department of Rural Development and Cooperatives, was present as chief guest at the conference, said a press release.
Hossain Zillur Rahman, chairperson of BRAC and executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre; and Professor Tofail Ahmed, local government expert, were present as guests of honor at the inaugural session.
P Chandra Shekhar, director general of Integrated Rural Development Centre for Asia and the Pacific was present as special guest at the conference, which was presided over by Saif Uddin Ahmed, director general, BARD.
Ismail Hossain said that BARD had played a leading role in rural development of Bangladesh. 鈥楤ARD鈥檚 pilot projects have been implemented at the national level throughout Bangladesh.鈥�
Saif Uddin Ahmed said that BARD would play a strategic role in achieving the SDG targets and building a developed and non-discriminatory Bangladesh.
He also presented the policy paper of the conference.
The convener of BARD鈥檚 58th Planning Conference is Md Mizanur Rahman, director for research, BARD. In addition, Asim Kumar Sarkar, deputy director, and Kazi Faiz Ahmed, assistant director, BARD, are serving as associate convener and assistant convener of the conference respectively.
One hundred and ten high and middle level representatives of various ministries and departments of the government and international organisations are participating in the two-day planning conference.
