TDS Desk:

France will provide €300 million as budget support to Bangladesh to help the country fight against climate change.

A concessional loan agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) on Monday (20 May), reads a press release.

The three-year programme covers the period 2023-2026. It also includes €5 million grants to finance technical cooperation for the different stakeholders involved in the implementation of the policy loan.

The programme aims at supporting Bangladesh’s climate-resilient and low-carbon development pathway, in line with the medium and long-term national priorities defined in the National Adaptation Plan [NAP], the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan [MCPP] and the Nationally Determined Contributions [NDC].

The first loan of 100 million euro is likely to be disbursed by June 2024.

Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, secretary, Economic Relations Division and Cecilia CORTESE, AFD Deputy County Director for Bangladesh signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and the AFD respectively.

The Ambassador of France Marie Masdupuy was also present at the signing ceremony.

The Agence Francaise de developpement (AFD) is a bilateral development agency implementing Official Development Assistance on behalf of the French government.

It has been operating in Bangladesh since 2012. It supports development projects for power & energy, environment and climate change, transport and communication and health sector. At present, AFD has been funding some 11 on-going projects in Bangladesh.

All the projects entail net assistance amount of 1141.86 million euro ($1,242.71 million). More precisely, it consists of 1122 million euro ($1221.10 million) loans and 19.89 million euro ($21.65 million) of grants. AFD has so far disbursed 2207.56 million euro ($2402 million) in technical assistance and loans, of which 1084.48 million euro ($1180 million) has been disbursed as of June 2023.