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ECOSOC chooses Bangladesh as poverty alleviation model for presentation at UN

Saturday, 30 June 2007


The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations has selected Bangladesh and Cambodia, as models of poverty alleviation policies, to present their success stories at its ministerial-level meeting scheduled to be held in Geneva between July 2 and July 5, reports UNB.
"We will present ECOSOC ministers in Geneva a detailed report as to how we are well on track on the way towards achieving the UN-set 1st MDG of poverty alleviation, through a mix of political stability, social awareness and sound policies", said Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury while talking to the media.
The foreign adviser will lead the Bangladesh delegation to this high-level meeting of ECOSOC, said a press release.
He will leave Dhaka today (Saturday) on a five-day visit to Geneva for this purpose. The team will include Director (UN) at the Foreign Ministry Hamidur Rashid.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with support from all relevant ministries and the UN Country Team (UNCT) in Dhaka, has procured a 111-page report entitled "Meeting the Challenge: A Mid-term Review of Achieving MDG-1 in Bangladesh".
The report will be formally presented by the foreign adviser at the first annual ministerial review meeting of MDG-1.
The first Millennium Development Goal is to reduce poverty and hunger by half, by 2015.
For Bangladesh, the aim is to reduce the poverty headcount rate from the level of 58.8 per cent in 1991 to 29.4 per cent in 2015. Already the rate has declined to 40 per cent.