FE Report
An Asian partnership conference concluded in Dhaka Sunday recommending that development partners and developed countries should actively help countries like Bangladesh in achieving the universally-designed sustainable development goals (SDGs) in post-2015 period.
Speakers at the expert-studded meet noted that implementing the successor to the UN-designated MDGs on poverty alleviation would require huge resources--both internal and external. And the partners in development have a pivotal role in making available the resources to countries which needed the same most, they said.
They also suggested ensuring accountability mechanisms in matters of SDGs. The citizens' participation in such mechanisms should be increased.
The two-day expert-group meeting on 'Asian Partnership in Financing SDGs' was held at city's Brac Inn Centre.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in collaboration with the Millennium Campaign, and the Southern Voice organised the meet-preparatory to building coalitions for dealing with the next universal development paradigm.
Executive director of the CPD Mustafizur Rahman said there are 17 goals and 169 targets laid down in SDGs for which huge resources will be needed. Bangladesh needs to exploit remittance and for this overseas labour market should be expanded, he said.
He felt that Bangladesh also needed the help of the development partners and the developed countries. Developed countries should actively come forward to help achieve SDGs. Also best practices of public private-partnership (PPP) should be pursued here, he said.
"SDGs are not average development rather those are disaggregated development of different groups. Children should not be below poverty line and the disadvantaged must get out of the present situation," he said.
CPD distinguished fellow Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya stressed the need for ensuring accountability and transparency mechanism in the process of implementing SDGs.
He said citizens' participation is a prerequisite for ensuring such accountability.
Bhattacharya noted that SDG financing was a major challenge and that not any single-source financing is sufficient. So, multi-source financing is required.
Manager of development finance programme of the Philippines Jennifer del Rosario-Malonzo said Asia is getting richer but there is a huge infrastructure deficit estimated at US$730 billion. The growing popularity of the Private-Public Partnership (PPP) concept in global forums is seen as a way to bridging this gap.
She identified factors like government financial constraints, greater efficiency, value for money, capacity issues, and scarcity of resources only available through public good like land for popularising PPP for development.
In Asia only three countries--South Korea, India and China--are considered developed PPP economies, she told the function.
"But PPP is not a panacea and it also has many challenges."
Head of macroeconomic policy research of the Institute of Policy Studies in Sri Lanka Dushni Weerakon said Asia receives 40 per cent of the total global remittances with the Philippines, China and India being on top.
Remittance should not be looked at in isolation and should be used in mainstream development process, the Lankan economist added.
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