Bangladesh has a per capita income of $500. Its economy is growing at over 6 per cent rate per annum. If the growth momentum could be pushed by 1 per cent annually, by the year 2010 the economy would grow at 10 per cent. If this could be maintained for the next 15 years, by the year 2015 the country would be out of the club of 49 Least Developed Countries (LDC), and by 2025 would become a mid-level developing country, with per capita income of about $3,000.

The country would reach the threshold of a developed nation with per capita income of over $12,000 by 2040 if the same growth rate can be maintained for the next 15 years. That can happen only if almighty Allah is very gracious. The underlying assumption, however, is that the population will remain stable. In reality, the population is likely to grow for a few years and then would stabilize for sometime before it starts declining. The actual per capita income, therefore, could be somewhat different than stipulated.

I am not daydreaming. Some nations, including China, the most populous country in the world, have shown that double-digit growth is attainable. Such a high growth rate seems to be within the reach of neighbouring India, which has already attained almost 9 per cent growth. What is needed is a vision for the future and single-minded relentless efforts of the leadership and the populace to reach those goals. It could be much easier for us than others to reach these targets as we have a homogeneous and young population. Once we commit ourselves to these goals, various strategies could be chalked out to attain them. I have one, which I would like to designate as 9E strategy.

For the country to prosper, the first and foremost requirement is accountability and transparency in governance. This can be achieved through periodic credible elections to select the stewards to lead the country and the communities at the national and local levels. Thus election is the first element of 9E. Only a democratic polity can provide good governance and create lasting environment of freedom and innovation for uninterrupted progress and prosperity.

The second prerequisite is empowerment of the downtrodden and disadvantaged groups. A society marches ahead in an environment of fair competition with equal opportunity for all. Every citizen should be on a level playing field. Therefore, empowerment is the second element of 9E.

For attaining excellence and glory in the community of nations we must educate citizens about worldly subjects to develop their skills to engage in productive occupations, to excel in science and technology and other arena of scholarly pursuit of arts, ethics, history, religion, etc. Education is the third element of 9E.

The wheels of production rotate with energy. Energy makes life comfortable, easy, and hassle-free. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to ensure adequate supply of energy -- gas, oil, and electricity for every-day comfort as well as for long-term improvements in citizens' living conditions.

However, the situation is precarious now. We are using our limited gas reserves to produce electricity, possibly not the best possible use for this scarce resource. Already few precious lives were lost in brutal governmental action during mass agitations triggered by the government's failure to ensure adequate supply of energy to its people

However, the region we are in is rich in hydroelectric potentials as well as oil and gas reserves. Energy cooperation among Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, and Nepal is likely to give a boost to the development of the entire region. All these countries, particularly Bangladesh, can reap huge benefits from affordable hydroelectricity from Nepal, Bhutan, and India, coal from India, and gas from Myanmar, and at the same time can share its own energy resources with the neighbors to put them in best possible use. In 9E strategy, energy is the fourth element.

The development of a country benefits its people. Again, it is the people who develop it. While the government creates the environment conducive to progress, it is entrepreneurs who push the wheels of development and put the nation on a higher growth rate trajectory. Fortunately, the garment sector while growing in an environment of "MFA restrictions" has created a group of world-class entrepreneurs and professional managers in Bangladesh. The entrepreneur class is likely to get enlarged in a growing economy. Thus, entrepreneurship is the fifth element of 9E strategy.

Since the Second World War, several East and South-East Asian countries achieved unprecedented social transformation and economic growth, initially based on export expansion and then with concurrent increase in domestic demand. Production of goods and services depend on "effective demand." A nation is poor because its people lack purchasing power which oils the wheels of production. In the present LDC status, it would not be possible to break the "vicious circle of poverty" without opening of and a breakthrough in markets abroad for products and service produced in Bangladesh.

This is why the current Doha Round of WTO negotiations is so important for the country. Despite all pervasive corruption and wide spread governmental failure in almost every sector, Bangladesh economy is showing good prospects due to expansion of garment industry and manpower export. The economy is benefiting in multiple ways from these two sectors. In 9E strategy, export development is the sixth element.

Welfare, income, and employment have close correlations. Employment gives income and income promotes welfare. A modern state exists for the welfare of its people. In this scenario, employment is the most important of the nine elements. All the policies and programs of the government should be geared to generate and facilitate employment. Broadly speaking, of the country's total workforce, about 50 per cent should be engaged in manufacturing, construction, and mining sectors; 25 per cent in agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandries, and the remaining 25 per cent in services and other sectors.

For orderly expansion of the economy, a few corridors of development, say, one from Teknaf to Dhaka, another from Mongla to Banglaband, and still another from Dhaka to Tamabil, etc. and about one hundred or so hubs of manufacturing and service activities, with population ranging from a few hundred thousand to several million, may be created with the right facilities. The development in these hubs should be more vertical than horizontal. The picturesque rural character of the rest of the country should remain undisturbed.

The urban population may gradually increase to 80-90 per cent, while the rest would continue to live in villages. Every sector of the economy should grow in a competitive environment, should be nurtured by a highly productive labour force and should run on sound commercial principles.

The country should generate not only enough employment for the new entrants in the job market but also for the absorption of 30 million or so unemployed labour force in the next couple of years and attain full employment by 2015. Simultaneously, the efforts to raise labour productivity through skill development and adoption of improved modern technology should continue unabated to give the country an edge in global competitiveness.

In this age of globalization, no country can progress in isolation. Economic integration, particularly with the neighbouring countries, is pivotal for ensuring uninterrupted long-term progress. European Union, Nafta, and Asean are some of the examples which show how living standards of people can be made better by opening each other's markets and harnessing and sharing each other's resources.

We must work together with India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bhutan, and even with China, to develop water and energy resources and to develop infrastructure -- road, railway, and river communication network. By developing Chittagong port and making it an efficient regional hub, the country's GDP could be raised by at least 1 per cent and create a million new jobs. Economic integration, is, therefore, the eighth element in 9E strategy.

Everyone in society should have access to good education, healthcare, decent living environment, public transportation, and security of life and property. Everybody should enjoy equal rights and freedom of thought, action, and religious belief, and none should impede others' rights. All would be equal in the eyes of law and justice. Rule of law should prevail in all spheres and corruption should bear the worst stigma. The society would give equal emphasis on creation and distribution of wealth and create an egalitarian environment. Thus, equality would be the final element in the 9E strategy.

The process of economic and social transformation is a complex phenomenon. There is no precise explanation as to why some countries are rich while others are poor. Many African countries with abundant natural resources are poor and on the other hand resource-poor Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are rich.

Human endeavour and ingenuity perhaps play a decisive role. With right policies and leadership, a country could make great strides in a short period, as the countries of South-East Asia exemplify. The 9E strategy, if pursued vigorously, I believe, would create conditions which would make Bangladesh a mid-level developing country by 2025 and raise it to the status of a developed country in about 40 years.

The dream of an ordinary citizen can come true only in an environment of peace and harmony, where the citizens make relentless efforts to improve their living conditions and their leaders act with responsibility and selflessly, while governments change periodically on the basis of free and fair elections. Let us hope the dialogue the government and the opposition have embarked on after confrontational politics of a decade and a half would lead us to such an era of peace, harmony, and prosperity.

Ghulam Rahman is a former Secretary to the government.