‘Bringing together the public sector with the private sector to provide the vocational and technical skills that employers need will mean more and better-paid jobs and ultimately help Bangladesh shift its economy to a higher level,’ said Sungsup Ra, ADB’s South Asia director.

The Bangladesh government’s National Skills Development Council has been working to promote skills since 2011 as part of its vision of achieving middle-income status by 2021.

The total cost of the Skills for Employment Investment Programme is estimated at $1.07bn. ADB loans for the program will be made in three tranches as part of a seven-year financing facility, the bank stated.

The first $100m tranche is expected to be signed in the coming weeks with the second expected to be disbursed in mid-2016 and the third in mid-2018.

In addition, $200m in co-financing will come from the government of Bangladesh, $30m from the government of Switzerland, $400m from other development partners and $90m from the private sector.

The funding will support 15 priority sectors, staring with six: garments and textiles; leather; construction; light engineering; information technology; and shipbuilding.

By 2015, the programme aims to help set up a National Human Resource Development Fund to scale up skills training. The programme will also support the government’s plan to establish a new ministry or authority for skills development.

Last month, CIPFA announced that it had joined with accountancy education provider LCBS Dhaka to offer international public financial management training in Bangladesh.