URU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 117: Landepolitikpapir for Bangladesh 2019-2021

Udenrigsudvalget 2019-20
URU Alm.del Bilag 117
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Minutes from meeting in the Council for Development Policy 11 September 2019

Present:

Members:

Professor Emeritus Georg Sørensen, University of Aarhus (Chair)

International Director Gunvor Bjerglund Thomsen, The Danish Youth Council

(Vice Chair)

Head of Projects Tine Bork, SMEdenmark

Director Thomas Bustrup, Confederation of Danish Industries

Senior Researcher Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Danish Institute for International

Studies

Associate Professor Michael Wendelboe Hansen, Copenhagen Business School

Partner Marina Buch Kristensen, Nordic Consulting Group

General Secretary Rasmus Stuhr Jakobsen, CARE Danmark

General Secretary Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, DanChurchAid (except agenda item 1-

Director Mads Bugge Madsen, The LO/FTF Council (except agenda item 7-8)

Under-Secretary for Development Policy Stephan Schønemann

Head of Department Mikael Hemniti Winther, Technical Quality Support

Head of Department Lotte Machon, Africa, Policy and Development

Adviser Mette Brink Madsen, Department for Technical Quality Support

Ambassador Winnie Estrup Petersen, Deputy Head of Mission Refika Hayta and

Special Adviser Mads Mayerhofer, Embassy Dhaka

Head of Department Thomas Lehmann and Head of Section Pernille Dueholm,

Department for Asia, Oceania and Latin America

Ambassador John Nielsen, Deputy Head of Mission Hanne Carus and Special

Adviser Mads Hovøre Andersen, Embassy Yangon

Head of Department Thomas Lehmann and Head of Section Tea Marie Nielsen ,

Department for Asia, Oceania and Latin America

Head of Department Ole Thonke and Chief Adviser Frode Neergaard, Depart-

ment for Sustainable Growth and Employment

Head of Department Henriette Ellermann-Kingombe and Chief Adviser Tobias

von Platen-Hallermund, Department for Multilateral Cooperation and Climate

Change

Henrik Bramsen Hahn and Anna Cecilie Friis Bach, Embassy Washington

Head of Department Tania Schimmel, The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utili-

ties (agenda item 6)

Head of Department Elsebeth Søndergaard Krone and Chief Adviser Mette

Cramer Buch, Danish Energy Agency (agenda item 6)

MFA:

Agenda item 2

Agenda item 4:

Agenda item 5:

Agenda item 6:

Agenda item 7:

MCEU:

DEA:

URU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 117: Landepolitikpapir for Bangladesh 2019-2021

Agenda item no. 3:

Denmark’s

Country Policy Paper for Bangladesh 2019

–

2021

For discussion and recommendation to the Minister

(Embassy Dhaka & Department for Asia, Oceania and Latin America, ALO)

Summary:

The new country policy paper for Bangladesh outlines Denmark’s overall engagement

with Bangladesh for the

remaining period of the current country programme 2019-2021.

In line with Denmark’s strategic interest in

Bangladesh, the policy paper has four strategic objectives: 1)

Contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth

; 2)

Enhance

resilience of selected vulnerable and marginalised groups, including Rohingya refugees and affected host communities as well

as groups prone to irregular migration

; 3) Promote shared values in terms of democracy, good governance, human

rights and gender equality; 4) Expand and diversify economic and commercial relations between Denmark and

Bangladesh.

The Council for Development Policy recommended the policy paper for approval by the Min-

ister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Development Cooperation.

The ALO Department informed the Council that the discussion on the country policy paper had

been postponed from May 2019 - due to the Danish parliamentary election process - and ex-

plained that the purpose of the paper was to align the timing of the strategic framework with the

existing Country Programme. Hence, the paper was covering the period until 2021 only.

The Council noted the high economic growth rate in Bangladesh, but was surprised that Bangla-

desh was in a process of graduating from the LDC group when taking into account the many

challenges the country was still facing. The Council asked how the increasing inequality was being

handled.

The Council noted the link to the SDGs but missed a more detailed connection to the various

indicators, e.g. the link to the SDGs under priority area one could be expanded to include 2, 12

and 15. The focus of the Danish engagement in Bangladesh was to shift from Aid-to-Trade in

the medium to long-term perspective, and several of the comments given aimed to feed into the

formulation of the coming country strategy from 2021.

The Council acknowledged the barriers for doing business in Bangladesh. The Embassy was

encouraged to use the experience and knowledge of Danish companies active in Bangladesh to

analyse how the challenges, including the fight against corruption, could be addressed. The Coun-

cil found that sector cooperation and trade instruments were very relevant in a country like Bang-

ladesh. The Council asked how the Danish engagement in the future could contribute further to

the creation of decent jobs and the role of labour market organisations and recommended an

analysis of the labour market including the role of labour market organisations.

The Council noted that the focus under priority one, inclusive growth, had shifted from the very

poor farmers to market linkage and questioned how the poverty reduction would be maintained

in the future. Evaluations had concluded that The Farmer Field Schools had had impressive

URU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 117: Landepolitikpapir for Bangladesh 2019-2021

results, which it would be important to keep in mind. However, the value-chain and market link-

age approach was a good opportunity to bring together the farmers and SMEs. Referring to

increased levels of youth unemployment and a decline in job creation, the Council asked how

youth could be further integrated into the programme. In that regard, reference was made to the

‘Youth in Development’

toolbox for inspiration. The Council further recommended increased

focus on enhancing skills as this was crucial with regard to investments.

The Council expressed concerns over the recent development in the political situation including

human rights and freedom of speech and asked how Denmark could engage with Bangladesh on

these difficult subjects including the role of civil society organisations.

The Council commented on the difficult situation related to the Rohingya crisis and asked for a

description of the perspectives for the cooperation with Myanmar. A focus on the humanitarian-

development nexus was necessary, however, a description of how institutional barriers would

affect the nexus approach was recommended.

Finally, the Council asked how the trust-building and credibility between Denmark and Bangla-

desh could be ensured in the future, also based on the unfortunate corruption case with CRRIP.

In response, the Embassy reminded that the document was covering a transition period and was

describing ongoing activities. The options for making changes were limited as the time span was

short and there was no additional funding. The Embassy welcomed the useful and constructive

forward-looking comments, as they would provide a good basis for drafting the next country

strategy 2021-2026.

The Embassy took note of the suggestion for an analysis of labour market and informed the

Council that it had already initiated a number of analyses prior to the process of formulating the

new country strategy, e.g. analyses of civil society organisations, the Chittagong Hill Tracts as

well as a mapping of Danish interests after 2026.

The Embassy explained that the Bangladeshi government had a strong focus on creating growth

and that this had unfortunately happened at the expense of several areas, including the environ-

ment and human rights. The Embassy underlined that Bangladesh was a young country and had

been seen as a basket case only three decades ago.

Regarding the human right situation, the Embassy mentioned that Denmark tried to identify

areas of common interest as a platform for an open dialogue also in other areas. The rights of

women was one good example of such an area. Both countries were members of the Human

Rights Council, which should be utilised to create a dialogue within these areas. The fact that

Denmark had had strong partnership with Bangladesh, since the country became independent in

1971, and the fact that the Bangladeshi

government was inspired by ‘The

Nordic Model’, created

a good base for dialogue and cooperation.

Regarding the Farmer Field School engagement, the Embassy agreed that the long-standing co-

operation in this area had obtained good results. Therefore, the coming engagement with IFAD

URU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 117: Landepolitikpapir for Bangladesh 2019-2021

would build on lessons learned in this respect in order to ensure inclusive growth. Regarding

youth, the Embassy was already supporting an engagement with the NGO BRAC, which focused

on youth and skills. However, the possibilities of strengthening skills further would be explored

before going into the next programme period.

Summing up, the Chairman noted that the Council had undertaken a discussion on the broader

perspectives regarding e.g. efficient access for Danish companies to the Bangladeshi market, de-

mocracy, labour market and climate providing a good basis for the further process in drafting the

upcoming country strategy from 2021. Furthermore, there was no doubt that Bangladesh was

facing many complex challenges. It was a case of fragmented development, where some progress

was combined with several problems in relation to democracy, corruption, inequality and refu-

gees. Several other developing countries were in a similar situation. The recommendations had

focused on analysing how the problems could be addressed. The Chair concluded that the Coun-

cil found that the policy paper could be recommended for approval by the Ministers.