Germany commits fresh 191 million Euro grant for Bangladesh

Germany has made commitments of extending another 191 million Euro in grant to Bangladesh at the latest round of Bangladesh-German Development Cooperation Negotiations 2022.

With the new commitment, the amount now stands at 275.1 million Euro or around Tk 2,916 crore since the last government to government negotiations, the German embassy said in a statement today.

Since 1972, the overall amount reaches more than 3.2 billion Euro, according to the statement.

The two-day bilateral negotiations on development cooperation started on December 7.

Sharifa Khan, secretary of the Economic Relations Division, headed the Bangladesh delegation at the meeting where Barbara Schäfer, head of division for South Asia in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), headed the German team.

Schäfer, in her opening statement, said: "I would like to highlight that Germany welcomes Bangladesh's decision to give up plans to construct new coal-fired power plants and explore the possibilities of alternative sources for energy generation."

The two parties discussed issues of development cooperation, including climate change and energy, training and skills development, biodiversity, human rights and good governance.

The two delegations had an open exchange of views on ongoing projects and programmes for financial, technical and future development cooperation.

As a result of the negotiations, commitments for German-Bangladesh mutual cooperation were made for renewable energy and energy efficiency, sustainable urban development, technical and vocational education and training, socially and environmentally sound supply chains, trade and sustainable infrastructure and biodiversity.