Debapriya Bhattchariya

Debapriya Bhattacharya speaking at WIPO seminar on 12 December 2007

Debapriya Bhattacharya (born 1956) is an economist from Bangladesh and the executive director of the CPD, Dhaka.^[1]

Life and Education

Debapriya Bhattcharya studied at St. Gregory's High School, Dhaka and Dhaka College, Dhaka. He did his M.Sc. in Economics with distinction. He obtained his Ph.D. (Economics) from the Plekhanov Institute of National Economy, Moscow. He researched as a post-doctoral fellow at the Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.

In 2004-2005 was associated with the Centre for Global Development (CGD), Washington D.C. as a Senior Fulbright Fellow. He was also a Visiting Fellow at the United Nations University-Institute of New Technology (UNU-INTECH), Maastricht and Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Also, he has conducted joint research with the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), Tokyo and Institute of Development Planning and Management (IDPM), Manchester.

He is married to Dr Irina Shebanova, an economist. They have a daughter, Alexandra Bhattacharya, who graduated from London School of Economics (LSE) with an undergraduate degree in Law (LLB). She is currently undertaking her LLM at UCLA.

Working with Government of Bangladesh

Dr. Bhattacharya regularly participates in high-level consultative bodies of the Government of Bangladesh. He was a (a) member of the Consultative Committee on Macro-economic Policy Advisory Committee, Ministry of Finance; (b) member of the Banking Sector Reform Committee; (c) member of the Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission; (d) a member of the Panel of Economists, Fifth Five Year Plan (1997–2002), Ministry of Planning; (e) Member, National Committee on Utilisation of Gas Resources, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

He prepared the draft of the Industrial Policy (1999) of the country for the Ministry of Industries as well as a number of position papers for the Ministry of Commerce. He was a Director of Janata Bank (1996–2000), the second largest commercial bank of the country in the public sector. He was also a member of the Task Force on “Foreign Aid” constituted under the Adviser for Planning in the Interim Government of 1991.

Dr. Bhattacharya prepared the Trade-related Technical Assistance Need Assessment of Bangladesh, the first such country report prepared for support under the Integrated Framework of the WTO. He was a member of Bangladesh's official delegation to the WTO Fourth Ministerial Meeting held in Doha (November, 2001) and the Second Meeting of the LDC Trade Ministers held in Dhaka (June 2003). He provided leadership in conceiving and organising the Pre-Cancun LDC Civil Society Conference held in Dhaka (May 2003). He also played a critical role in the national preparatory process for the WTO Ministerial held in Cancun (September 2003). Currently he is a member of the Advisory Committee on WTO Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh.

Career

Dr. Bhattacharya is a macro-economist and public policy analyst. Till November 2007, he steered the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), the most influential private sector think-tank of Bangladesh as its Executive Director. Prior to joining CPD he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). He served as Bangladesh's Permanenet Representative to Genevafrom 2007 to early 2009. He joined back Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in April 2009.

Debapriya Bhattacharya has been associated with a number of national, regional and international professional organisations. He was the General Secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Association for three consecutive terms. He was a member of the Panel of Advisory Board of the International Centre for Trade and Development (ICTSD), Geneva. He is currently the Regional Editor of the Oxford Development Studies, Member of the Editorial Board, South Asian Studies, Colombo and Chairperson of the EU-LDC Network. He was a member of the "Investment" and "WTO" Task Forces set up by the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS).

He was the Study Director of the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI) in Bangladesh, a multi-country exercise of the Governments, the World Bank and a global network of civil society organisations. He was also the Study Director for the CPD’s Pre-Election Policy Brief Programme (2001) and Policy Review Programme (2003).

He also seved as a member of the governing body of BRAC - the largest NGO of the world. He also sits in the Academic Council of the BRAC University.

International assignments

Dr. Bhattacharya undertook assignments for a number of international organisations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, UNCTAD, ILO as well as bilateral development agencies from the US, Japan, UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden. Also, he undertook short-term overseas assignments in Costa Rica for CARE International, in India for the World Bank, in Nepal for the UNDP, in Sri Lanka for the British ODA, in Malaysia for the EDI, World Bank, Mongolia for the APO, and Bulgaria and Moscow for the UN-DESA.

Most recently, Dr. Bhattacharya has played a guiding role in organisation of the International Civil Society Forum 2005: For Advancing LDC Interests in the Sixth WTO held in Dhaka on 3–5 October 2005.

Public profile

He participates regularly in the national and international media as a commentator on contemporary economic issues. He used to moderate a prime time talk show on Bangladesh Television on development debates. This fetched him mass popularity.

Assignment in Geneva

On 20 October 2007, the Caretaker government of Bangladesh appointed Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya as Bangladesh's permanent representative (PR) based in Geneva. This was his first diplomatic assignment. Ambassador Bhattacharya assumed charge in Geneva in November. At the WTO he chaired a number of committees and sub-committees on different issues. He was also the co-ordinator of the LDCs. After the general election of 2008, a democratic government came into power and Debapriya resigned in February 2009. He returned to Bangladesh and joined back CPD.

Research interests

Dr Bhattacharya's current interest relates to reform economics and strategic policy issues. His major works relate to foreign aid and global trade regime, investment and finance, industry and technology. He has also worked in the areas of regional cooperation, environment, human development, micro-credit and enterprise development.

Publications

Dr. Bhattacharya has more than one hundred publications to his credit including chapters in books, monographs, journals, articles and research reports. He has contributed to the UN LDC Report 2000, UNCTAD-ICC Investment Guidelines, and Global Competitiveness Report 2001, 2002 and 2003 of the World Economic Forum. A list of most recent publications is given below : Books/Monographs

• Bhattacharya, D. and et al. (2004). Globalisation and the LDCs: Perspectives from the Asia-Pacific Region, CPD-Pathak Shamabesh, Dhaka.

• Bhattacharya, D. (2004). “Globalization and the State: Human Development and Capacity Building Needs – A Review of Asian Country Experiences” in Globalization and the State: Challenges for Economic Growth and Human Development. United Nations, New York.

• Bhattacharya, D. and et al. (2005). Bangladesh in the Global Trade Regime: Labour, Environment, Agriculture, Export and Trade Negotiations. Pathak Samabesh, Dhaka.

Articles/Policy Briefs/Reviews

• Bhattacharya, D. (2005). “The Doha Round and Poverty: An LDC Perspective”. Bridges, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 13–14, May 2005, Geneva: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

• Bhattacharya, D. and K. Elliot. (2005). “Adjusting to the MFA Phase-Out: Policy Priorities”. CGD Brief, Washington, D.C.: Centre for Global Development.

• Bhattacharya, D. (2005). “Least Developed Countries in Trade Negotiations: Planning Process and Information Needs”. Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 51–68, New York: ESCAP.

• Bhattacharya, D. and et al. (2005). “Road to Hong Kong Ministerial of the WTO: Anticipating the “First Approximations” from Bangladesh Perspective”. Occasional Paper Series, No. 49, Dhaka: Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

• Bhattacharya, D. (2005). “Bangladesh’s Experience with Foreign Direct Investment”, in Foreign Direct Investment: High Risk, Low Reward for Development, pp. 51–66, Bonn: Church Development Service (EED).

References

1. ^ "ACC to check discrepancy between candidates' income and expense". bdnews24.com. 23 May 2006. http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=34679&cid=4. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 

External links

Persondata
Name	Bhattacharya, Debapriya
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1956
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death