He said this when he made his farewell call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban office in the city.

PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

Qimiao Fan said Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in the last one decade focusing on its development in the human development indexes. “The World Bank will continue to cooperate with Bangladesh for its economic development,” Ihsanul Karim quoted him as saying.

Although Bangladesh is a densely populated country, it has embarked on a very good economic and social progress, the World Bank country director said, praising the country for its success in poverty alleviation.

The Rohingya issue also came up for discussion at the meeting.

The Prime Minister said her government is trying its best to develop the country. “The development of Bangladesh was neglected by the military rulers,” she added.

Mentioning her government’s commitment to ensure basic needs of the people, she said the government is materialising the dreams of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and working to fulfill the basic needs of the people.

Describing government’s plan to develop the country in its totality, Sheikh Hasina said, “We want to improve the lot of common men.”

She mentioned that Bangladesh has attained self-sufficiency in food.

Noting that Bangladesh has graduated to a developing country from the group of least developed countries, she said the aim of Bangladesh is now to be a developed country.

Talking about social safety net programmes, the Prime Minister apprised the World Bank country director of how she motivated mothers to send their children to schools through providing incentives to them.

She said she has opened all the sectors for privatisation.

About the Rohingya issue, the Prime Minister said the international community should help Bangladesh.

PM’s Principal Secretary Md Nojibur Rahman was present.