Staff Correspondent:

Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Wednesday said both the Chief Adviser and he himself are focused on implementing basic reforms in the country, rather than pursuing long- or medium-term ones.

“We the interim government will not be there (in power) for a long time, maybe 7-8 months, especially me and the Chief Adviser are very much serious just to do some basic reforms, we will not do any long-term or medium term reforms,” he said.

He said this while addressing the Accounting and Auditing Summit (A & A Summit) at a city hotel with the theme of ‘FRC’s Role and its impact on economic governance of Bangladesh’.

The Adviser also said they will try to implement the reforms that have started so far. “We are having huge obstacles and hurdles, there are so many issues; you might not understand those from outside, we are trying…” he said.

He also appreciated the businesspeople and lending agencies for their all-out support for these reforms that the interim government has induced. “They have given very good support,” he added.

Chairman of the Financial Reporting Council Dr Md Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan presented the keynote paper.

Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Dr Mohammad Abdul Momen, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Country Director (interim) of the World Bank in Dhaka Souleymane Coulibaly were present as special guests.

Finance Division Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder chaired the opening session where World Bank Lead Governance Specialist Suraiya Zannath delivered the welcome speech.

President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) NKA Mobin and President of Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) Mahtab Uddin Ahmed also spoke at the programme.