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p. 36 of 46 BACK | NEXT Moving the Poverty Reduction Agenda Forward: Priorities and Outcomes Strategic Priorities Crosscutting Strategic Themes Regional Perspectives East and Central Asia Mekong The Pacific South Asia Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Southeast Asia

Annual Report 2003 : Moving the Poverty Reduction Agenda Forward: Priorities and Outcomes : South Asia

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Bangladesh

Strategy and Policy Dialogue.
ADB operations continued to reduce poverty and to address key governance concerns. The main focus was on basic infrastructure and human development with greater attention to governance. Policy dialogue with the Government helped spearhead reforms particularly in power, education, and roads. The dialogue also focused on increasing transparency and efficiency in public procurement, improving portfolio performance, and streamlining project documentation and approval procedures.

The key features in participatory livestock development were improving the livelihood of poor rural women by making them more self-reliant and strengthening the capacity of public sector and implementing agencies. In the roads sector, the emphasis was on i) improving efficiency and strengthening networks to promote economic growth and smoother cross-border flow and (ii) addressing problems of poor governance and corruption. In the energy sector, reforms were aimed at further assisting the Government in restructuring the power sector to ensure adequate and reliable supplies at competitive prices through increased private sector participation, improved financial management, and more efficient operations. In primary education, ADB pioneered a development approach by bringing the Government and 11 partners together under one program to increase access and quality, and to address governance-related issues in the sector.

Loans and Technical Assistance.
ADB approved five loans totaling 532 million for livestock, power sector development, primary education, and road network improvement and maintenance. Ten technical assistance grants totaling 5.1 million were also approved.

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