BD to be model country for civil registry: Minister

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Thursday Bangladesh is well poised to become a model country for coordinated efforts to develop a comprehensive and universal civil registry, reports UNB.
"A National Steering Committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, will carry out the tasks of coordination to implement CRVS in Bangladesh," he said, addressing the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific held in Bangkok.
The planning minister also highlighted the high degree of political commitment, administrative coordination within the government, and a growing practice for innovation.
AHM Mustafa Kamal was elected as the Chair of the Ministerial Conference. It was a rare honour for Bangladesh and a testament to the impressive work that Bangladesh has put in place to establish a robust and sustainable CRVS system, said a press release.
In his opening remarks, the planning minister highlighted Bangladesh's achievements under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in attaining the MDG targets, making impressive progress towards developing Digital Bangladesh, and winning six international awards, including MDG Award, South-South Award, GAVI Award, Poverty Reduction Award, WSIS Award, and South-South Cooperation Visionary Award.
The conference highly applauded Bangladesh's success in achieving the MDG goals.
Globally, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) has become an important issue for post-2015 sustainable peace and development agenda. It deals with registration of vital events of a citizen's life such as birth, death, cause of death, marriage, divorce and adoption.
Thus, a comprehensive and universal CRVS system provides legal identity to every citizen and becomes a critical enabling platform for health services, education, migration, social services, employment, and inheritance, among others.
Mustafa Kamal is leading a high-level delegation to the conference, which includes Secretary, Statistics and Informatics Division; Secretary (in-charge), Cabinet Division; Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand and Permanent Representative to ESCAP; Director General, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics; and other officials of the Statistics and Informatics Division, Prime Minister's Office, Access to Information Programme, and the Bangladesh Embassy.
The five-day conference, with the theme 'Get everyone in the picture', is co-organised by ESCAP, and several other UN agencies, the World Bank Group and prominent international civil society organisations.
Over 200 ministers, senior officials and experts from the region launched this first-ever Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific.
Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Suraiya Begum, and Anir Chowdhury, Policy Adviser, Access to Information Programme, Prime Minister's Office, also spoke at the conference.
The week-long conference will end today (Friday).