Shawdesh Desk:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday called for taking effective initiatives to ensure that international commitments are appropriately met for the implementation of the UN-adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“…effective initiatives need to be taken to ensure that international commitments are appropriately met and implemented,” she told the opening session of the 2nd National Conference on SDGs Implementation Reviews (SIR) at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC).

She also put emphasis on ensuring the best use of funds and preventing its wastage as well as continuation of providing the policy support and funding for the implementation of the SDGs.

“We will continue to provide policy support and funding for the implementation of the SDGs, but we must ensure the best use of funds, and wastage must be prevented,” the prime minister said, joining the function virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.

She also said her government will be able to achieve the set goals before 2030 provided all work together.

“We have achieved the status of a developing nation and we will be able to attain the status of a developed country by 2041,” Hasina observed.

She vowed that her government will continue to work to turn Bangladesh into a developed and prosperous nation free of hunger and poverty as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The premier mentioned that Bangladesh’s success in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) brightened its image in the international arena.

“Our government is committed to implementing the ‘Agenda 2030’ or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to continue this pace of development,” she said.

She said that although SDGs is a global development concept, it is also very relevant in the development discourse of Bangladesh.

In this connection she said that Bangladesh was actively involved in formulating the SDGs from the very beginning.

In 2013, she said, taking the views of all relevant stakeholders of the country, Bangladesh proposed 11 Goals to the United Nations. Of these, ten were exactly adopted by the United Nations, and the remaining one was included among the other goals of Agenda 2030.

As a result, from the time of adoption of the SDGs, it has been possible to formulate various policies and strategies for Bangladesh in light of the SDGs, she added.

In 2015 the UN adopted the SDGs, also known as the Global Goals, calling upon its members to take action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

It has incorporated 17 integrated goals which say that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Planning Minister MA Mannan, State Minister for Planning Ministry Dr. Shamsul Alam, UN Resident Coordinator and Country Director Tuomo Poutiainen and Principal Coordinator SDG Affairs Zuena Aziz also spoke.

Member (Secretary) of General Economics Division of Planning Commission Md. Kawser Ahmed gave a brief presentation on the SDGs implementation in the country.

A documentary on the SDGs was also screened in the programme.