The committee has identified eight inter-related goals for the vision. Earlier this month, consultations on the first seven were held. Those goals are: to become a participatory democracy; to have an efficient, publicly accountable, transparent and decentralised government; to become a poverty-mitigated middle-income country; to have a health-endowed nation; to have a skilled and a creative workforce; to become a globally integrated economic and commercial regional hub and to be environmentally sustainable.

Ensuring a socially just society is central to building a participatory democracy and to advancing the development process. High rates of economic growth need to be coupled with policies and institutions that allow the sharing of the benefits of development by all irrespective of income, class, gender, religion or ethnicity. Cultural accommodation is also the only sustainable approach to future progress because the alternative is cultural suppression.

Promotion of cultural and religious diversity as a national heritage; guaranteed access to educational and health-care opportunities by the poor; minimum employment guarantee for the rural poor; property rights for the poor and marginalised groups; no gender-based discrimination and inequality; safety nets for vulnerable groups; reduced regional inequality through local economic development; economic and social inclusion of minorities and many more relevant issues will be deliberated and consulted upon at the session.

The outline of the Vision 2021 for Bangladesh has been drafted on the basis of recommendations and aspirations propagated by a large number of people attending the regional civil society dialogues at various places of Bangladesh, which are being organised collaboratively by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), the Prothom Alo, The Daily Star and Channel-i. The Nagorik Committee 2006 is now going through a process of consultation with expert groups about the draft outline.

The Vision 2021 for Bangladesh will eventually be presented to the next elected government and the parliament with a more detailed description of short and medium term strategies.