State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has called for strengthening global solidarity and adopting a well-coordinated response to the ongoing global crises.
He was addressing a ministerial roundtable, titled 'Accelerating achievement of the SDGs by 2030: addressing on-going crises and overcoming challenges', at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2022 at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
"As a member of the Champions of the Global Crisis Response Group, my Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working with other global leaders to chart a global response commensurate with the scale and gravity of the crises," he told the roundtable.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, and other high-level officials were present at the event, foreign ministry said on Friday.
Highlighting the impacts of multiple and overlapping crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and the war in Ukraine, along with other protracted conflicts, the state minister said Bangladesh had been able to show strong resilience to tackle the impacts of these crises.
"We rolled out 22 billion dollars of stimulus to keep our economy afloat. The social safety net was extensively expanded. Besides, we also spent billions of dollars on vaccines."
Mr Alam said Bangladesh's 'whole-of-society' approach, national data repository system, SDG tracker, and localisation efforts had paved the way to accelerate the SDGs implementation.
Putting spotlight on Bangladesh's innovative, inclusive and people-centered adaptation strategies, the state minister stressed the high importance of global solidarity and partnership to tackle the adverse impacts of climate change.
In this connection, he mentioned that Bangladesh had emerged as a role model for disaster risk response and crisis management.
Mr Alam urged the leading UN agencies, development partners, as well as multilateral donors, and the private sector to come forward to support national efforts, especially of the most vulnerable countries, by providing additional financial and technological support to put the countries back on a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive recovery track.
He also discussed issues of mutual interests, including Bangladesh's candidature for the election of Human Rights Council for 2022-23.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com
