Bangladesh is a priority partner country for German Development Cooperation; cooperation between the two countries began more than three decades ago. Technical cooperation concentrates largely on the Bangladeshi economy and social structure which, despite unfavourable framework conditions and problems, give hope for the long-term development of the country and an improvement in the economic situation for large parts of the population.

The main problems in Bangladesh are scarce resources, natural disasters, a rigid and to some extent arbitrary bureaucracy, over-population and the poverty which this causes. Around 50 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

Against this background, the activities of the GTZ focus on the following three priority areas:

• health care (including family planning, HIV/AIDS) 
• human rights, democracy, participation and good governance 
• energy, in particular renewable energy and energy efficiency

The responsible government agencies, but also increasingly private-sector and informal executing organisations, perceive GTZ's activities as an important source of impetus for development. Particular attention is given to the conceptual and methodological approaches in advising institutions, providing training and upgrading and identifying material inputs.

GTZ aims increasingly to use local know-how and local experts. In preparing and implementing project contributions, high priority is given to participation. This corresponds to the German DC principle of minimum intervention (subsidiarity).

GTZ cooperates with other German development cooperation organisations (KfW Entwicklungsbank [KfW development bank], InWEnt, Capacity Building International, Germany) and directly with the following bilateral and multilateral organisations:

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) 
• Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) 
• South Asian Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) 
• Swiss Intercooperation 
• Department for International Development (DFID)
• United Nations Development Programme