We are natural partners in water management, delta planning development. The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 is therefore an important cooperation between the Netherlands and Bangladesh.
I think what is needed and what we are working on together with the government and the private sector is to move the Bangladesh Delta Plan towards more practical implementation-focused collaboration. And this is particularly on climate resilience, water management and coastal protection. And I think this is largely linked to the initiative of Prime Minister Tariq Rahman in terms of his ambition in digging canals, 20,000 kilometers of canals and so on.
So we are working closely with our programs to restore waterways, reduce waterlogging, improve drainage in both urban and rural areas. We have some projects, for example, Kalyanpur Canal Project, then Chattogram, and many more. We have a lot of expertise, in dredging, in sediment management, also have long-term cooperation with Bangladesh in integrated river and canal systems.
We would like to continue the cooperation that Dutch companies can bring. They can come up with new advanced methods, such as intelligent dredging, adaptive river management and restoration of major systems like the Jamuna River, canals for better urban water supply, which is related to Prime Minister Rahman’s big campaign, but also in waste water management or flood protection infrastructure.
We have to bring in more private sector. Public-private partnerships in the water sector are part of the solution. We can help with financing through the Green Climate Fund, but also look at how we can create better nature-based solutions and introduce people-centred approaches in that regard. So yes, we see many opportunities to continue working closely with Bangladesh in integrated water resources management and coastal protection.