Bangladesh Economists’ Forum (BEF) – a non-political group of independent economic professionals of Bangladesh origin residing at home and abroad – organized its 3rd annual conference on “Institutions for Development -Urbanization & Land Issues” on 31December, 2016 in Dhaka. BIGD co-sponsored the conference which was acknowledged by the organizers. Advocate Anisul Huq MP, Hon’ble, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs was the Chief Guest in the Inaugural Session. Country’s leading economists, development thinkers, current and former civil servants, civil society members and media people participated in the day-long conference.
After the inaugural session there were two academic sessions on “Urbanization in Bangladesh” and “Land Management in Bangladesh”. BIGD’s Senior Research Associate Mr. Mohammad Sirajul Islam presented a paper titled “Institutions of Urban Governance: Issues and challenges” in the First Session (Urbanization in Bangladesh). Dr. Atiur Rahman, Former Governor, Bangladesh Bank was the keynote speaker (Financial Inclusion and Managing Urbanization) and Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman, Executive Chairman, Power and Participation Research Centre and Dr. Sadik Ahmed, Vice Chairman, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh presented papers on “Political Economy of Urbanization in Bangladesh” and “Urbanization and Development: Addressing the Core Challenges” respectively. BIGD’s Executive Director Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman discussed all papers presented in this session. Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, Chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) was the moderator.
Five papers were presented under the theme of “Land Management in Bangladesh” in the second session. BIGD’s Research Fellow and Head of Governance and Politics Cluster Dr. Wahid Abdallah presented a paper titled “Digitalization of Land Registration in Bangladesh”. The keynote speech on “Land Use Planning in Bangladesh: Balancing Equity and Efficiency” was delivered by Dr. Mohiuddin Alamgir, Former Director, UNIFAD, Rome. Among others, Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, Dr. Mustafa K Mujeri, Dr. Khurshid Alam, and Dr. Ashikur Rahman presented papers on political aspects of land acquisition and land management, rural land market, land policy, and state of land disputes in Bangladesh. Dr. KAS Murshid, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies was the discussant and Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Former Governor, Bangladesh Bank was the moderator in this session.