The Municipal Association of Bangladesh (MAB) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Swiss-supported Prabriddhi-local economic development (LED) project to foster economic growth and decentralisation by strengthening the local government institutes.

On the occasion of the general meeting of MAB, the agreement was signed in presence of the distinguished representatives of 330 municipalities in Bangladesh.

Dewan Kamal Ahmed, president of MAB and mayor of Nilphamari municipality, and Markus Ehmann, team leader of Prabriddhi, signed the MoU, Swisscontact said in a statement.

The agreement will contribute to the government’s strategy of “Smart Bangladesh” under the “Vision 2041”.

Under this agreement, a virtual platform shall be developed for advocating and exchanging knowledge and information on LED.

Both parties expressed strong optimism that through this collaboration they will jointly play an effective role to foster local economic development of Bangladesh.

Prabriddhi is a local economic development project, funded by Switzerland and the government of Bangladesh, and co-implemented by Swisscontact and the local government division.