A team of senior researchers from CPD visited Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway in April this year as a part of CPD-CMI Research Cooperation Programme. Taking advantage of their presence a number of events were organised in Bergen and Oslo, Norway. A day long conference on Issues of Governance and Development in Bangladesh: New Context and New Challenges was organised by CMI on 19 April 2012 at their Resource Centre where research findings on related issues were presented and discussed by both CPD and CMI researchers.
The CPD visiting team also participated in a panel discussion on Bangladesh Frontier Forum: Opportunities and Risks for Norwegian Business in Bangladesh where Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, CPD made a brief presentation to initiate the discussion. The panelists included members of CPD-CMI research team, H E Ragne Birte Lund, Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh and eminent Norwegian business people. Professor Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, CPD presented the concluding remarks of the session. The meeting discussed the business environment in Bangladesh with an objective to explore the possibility of building partnerships among Norwegian and Bangladeshi businesses.
Apart from the discussion sessions and conference, second CPD-CMI Annual Research Meeting was also held on 18 April 2012. The meeting reviewed and assessed the progress of the ongoing projects and discussed the future activities under the programme.