This report is the result of a collaborative effort by the World Bank and European Union with academic and institutional partners to provide timely technical assistance to the Government of Bangladesh to support the nation’s blue economy aspirations. The work was guided by dialogue with the Planning Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Fisheries, and other stakeholders.
The early-stage findings and recommendations of this report were presented to a global and a national audience at the Second International Workshop on the Blue Economy held in Dhaka in November 2017 and benefited from the questions and comments from participants. Invaluable advice and guidance were provided by Dr. Gowher Rizvi and Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Advisors to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Rear Admiral (Retd.) Khurshed Alam, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Captain Wahid Hasan Kutubuddin, Head of the Blue Economy Cell, Government of Bangladesh, and their staff. Consultations with Mr. Kazi Shofiqul Azam, Secretary, and Ms. Mahmuda Begum, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance throughout the process are gratefully acknowledged.
We would like to gratefully acknowledge the external reviewers, Professor Bill Sharpe (recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics and Professor of Finance, Emeritus, at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business), Professor V.N. Atria (Chair in Indian Ocean Studies of the Indian Ocean Rim Association and University of Mauritius), and Dr. Clare Jolly (Head, Innovation Policies for Space and Oceans Unit, OECD, and lead author of the OECD Ocean Economy Report of 2016). World Bank peer reviewers Muthukumara S. Main, Lead Economist, Office of the Chief Economist, South Asia, and Xavier Vincent, Lead Fisheries Specialist and Global Lead for Blue Economy, helped to improve the report and are acknowledged with thanks. Excellent comments and suggestions were received from several World Bank colleagues: Urvashi Narain (Lead Economist), Marcelo Acerbi (Senior Environmental Specialist), Tijen Arun (Senior Environmental Economist), Milen Vollen (Senior Environmental Specialist), and Iqbal Ahmed (Environmental Specialist).