ZCZC
BSS-14
KAMAL-ECOSOC-FORUM
Kamal for collective global efforts to save planet
DHAKA, April 16, 2019 (BSS) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has urged the international community to make collective efforts to save the planet.
He made the call while speaking at a general debate of the ECOSOC Forum on ‘Financing for Development (FFD)’ at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York on Monday, said a press release here today.
The finance minister said Bangladesh contributes nothing to the climate change, but this phenomenon is hugely impacting its development efforts.
He urged the international community to revisit the policy to extend support measures to the graduating countries in the initial stages in order to help them enjoy and maintain a smooth and sustained graduation.
Mentioning the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for achieving sustained graduation, Kamal said, “Graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) category has been our national aspiration and Bangladesh has been making fast strides to achieve sustainable development articulated in its national Vision 2021 and Vision 2041.”
He mentioned that the growth rate of Bangladesh has gone up from 6.5 percent in 2014 to 8.13 percent in 2018 and the per capita Gross National Income (GNI) has increased by more than 250 percent between 2006 and 2018.
Bangladesh has been able to reduce the poverty rate from 40 percent in 2006 to 21.4 percent in 2018 by adopting an inclusive and equitable development policy.
“We are a nation of 160 million people with a common dream of transforming the country into ‘Sonar Bangla’ -‘a developed nation’ by 2041 following the aspiration of the founding Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman” he added.
Referring to the forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar, the minister said they are putting a considerable stress on Bangladesh’s development. He emphasized on their sustainable repatriation to their homeland.
Kamal urged the international community to come forward for the permanent solution to this crisis.
The UN secretary-general, president of the General Assembly, ministers from members states, high-level officials from ministries of finance, foreign affairs and development cooperation, executive directors of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as senior officials from the UN system, including the major stakeholders, and other international organizations, civil society organizations, the business sector and local authorities were participated at the 4th FFD forum.
The ECOSOC Forum on FFD follow-up is an intergovernmental process with universal participation mandated to review the implementation of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (Addis Agenda) and other financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The fourth ECOSOC Forum on FFD commenced on 15 April and will end on 18 April 2019.
BSS/PR/KUC/GA/1625 hrs