DHAKA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank has organized its first "Faster Project Implementation Week 2019" in Bangladesh, the first amongst its 68 member countries with the theme "Delivering Faster, Better, Stronger Development Outcomes".

As part of marking the week, the Manila-based lender held here a seminar on Sunday with officials and experts from home and abroad.

"It is a very special and historic day," said ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Manmohan Parkash. In his welcome speech, he said: "faster project implementation is key to effective and efficient development. The faster the projects are implemented, earlier the results are delivered to the people, thereby enabling people to get benefits more quickly. We have undertaken several reforms to expedite project implementation."

With an average growth rate of over 6.5 percent in the last 10 years, Bangladesh is seen as a model for growth.

He said Bangladesh is the second largest portfolio in ADB, comprising 54 projects under implementation with a current portfolio of over 10 billion U.S. dollars.