Emerging economies should contribute more to UN funds

FE Report
Emerging economies, including Bangladesh, should increase their contributions to the funds for the United Nations to help ensure the best use of the money for global development.
An international macro-development economist put forward the suggestion while delivering a public lecture in Dhaka on Sunday.
According to economist Dr Anis Chowdhury, solidarity among the developing countries is essential for more effective implementation of the UN programmes.
He presented a keynote paper on 'Seven decades of the United Nations and global economic challenges' at the lecture, organised by the North South University (NSU) on its campus.
NSU Vice-chancellor (VC) Atiqul Islam presided over the event attended by Dean of its School of Business and Economics M Mahboob Rahman, other faculty members and students.
Dr Anis Chowdhury said the UN was established with a view to bringing peace and stability and upholding human rights across the globe after it experienced massive destruction during World War II.
"Since its inception, the UN has been playing a crucial role in ensuring the welfare of deprived communities through its various specialised agencies, funds and programmes," said Dr Chowdhury, an Adjunct Professor of Australia's Western Sydney University.
He also said world-famous economists of different nationalities were involved with the UN in the last seven decades.
Economists like Gunnar Myrdal, Hans Singer and Mahbub ul Haq guided the organisation by their direct involvement with the UN Secretariat, he said, adding that economists like Joseph Stiglitz, AK Sen and Jan Tinbergen supported it as independent experts.
"The observations and suggestions made by the UN economists decades ago are still pertinent to many economic affairs in present time," he added.
Hailing the UN's role in decades to decades, he said the organisation broadened the definition of 'development' to human dignity from merely economic advancement of a community.
Dr Anis Chowdhury also referred to various publications the UN has published since its inception.
"Many of those publications are now available on the UN website for interested entities."
Explaining the UN's influence, Dr Chowdhury said it organised and initiated various programmes in the last two decades, which are now playing a significant role.
The Millennium Summit in 2000 and UN Summit of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in 2015 are such noteworthy programmes, he mentioned in the keynote paper.
Funds from various multinational corporations to the UN poses a challenge in maintaining neutrality during the implementation of its various programmes, the paper added.
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