FAO.org

Folkert de Jager, educated as a Civil Engineer, is the 1st secretary for Water Management and Food Security at the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Bangladesh. In his capacity he is responsible for the bi-lateral cooperation between the two countries in those fields, which is currently in a transition from an aid dominated cooperation towards a knowledge exchange and commercial and business oriented cooperation. This transition is largely guided by the implementation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, that was approved by the Government in 2018. This Delta Plan aims to develop Bangladesh into a safe, climate resilient and prosperous delta, and puts a strong focus on water management, agriculture and food security as drivers for economic development. In this regard the Netherlands is interested to explore new opportunities for value chain development, and advanced integration of water management and agriculture practices in the context of climate change, to make implementation of the Bangladesh Deltaplan economically feasible.