Bangladesh
Statement by Riaz Hamidullah,
Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh
IGN on Post 2015 Dev Agenda
NY, 20 Feb 2015
Mr Co facilitator,
We appreciate your continuing work on the Declaration. The Discussion Document is a good work in progression.
The statements by South Africa, for G 77, and Benin, for LDCs, have captured much of what we would have liked to say. Since morning, a number of delegations have also covered many of our broad points. Let me thus underline the aspects that Bangladesh would still emphasise, building on what we said earlier in the week.
First, since morning, many have emphasized that this Agenda and Declaration is about people. It is about bringing transformation in the lives and livelihoods of people, especially those in the bottom, across all countries. The Declaration is therefore to connect with ordinary people in villages and streets, with the inter-linked, ambitious, inspirational and aspirational architecture. Hence, we would agree with Fiji that it has to be a ‘Compact’ among all actors, all States – to lead our peoples towards a life of prosperity, well-being and dignity. And the Compact should aim at mobilizing our individual and collective actions for sustainable development.
Second, if we are to connect with people, early in the Declaration a cogent and brief ‘narrative’ is needed – connecting with people’s understanding of Development in terms of their diverse yet common realities and aspirations. And then, it should be balanced with the text of Para 15. In that context, we would suggest for the Declaration to pronounce on some of the elements that has transformative potential during the next 15 years period and beyond.
….. For instance, population dynamics and mobility; connectivity of movement of goods, services, energy, finance, investment, people, ideas, culture; deepening regional economic integration; ICT for Development.
These relate to productive capacities of people and economies at diverse levels and should be key to secure paradigm shifts.
Third, pronouncement on universal values, principles and purposes in a comprehensive manner is crucial. As we said earlier, mutual trust and mutual respect must underpin our global endeavours. Reference to the Rio Principles is central. In regard to ‘shared responsibility’, much that we have heard till now, while ‘sharing’ is absolutely desired, it has to be in terms of ‘shared commitment’ and ‘shared responsibility’ for ‘shared prosperity’.
Fourth, paragraphs 9, 12, 13 of the text relates to ‘implementation’ issues. We would however need further clarity on the ‘elements’ and their ‘inter-linkages’ over the coming weeks – on enabling environment, institutions, (national) policy space, national ownership, mainstreaming across national processes, partnerships. This is crucial to ensure balance at global and national levels, with required transparency. We agree to draw a wider set of actors at national and sub-national levels for effective national implementation, including legislatures. This is important to make difference in case of intricate SDGs unlike MDGs. All these will have to be weighed in respect of diverse capacity and differentiated need for support for the countries. At the same time, ‘mutual accountability’ would need to be de-configured and at the national level; and also judged about their applicability in context of diverse level of development of countries. As for global implementation review, we recognize the role of HLPF.
Fifth, Mr. Co-facilitator, in para 3, you tried to reflect on the challenges as well as opportunities before us in the coming period. As some of have underlined since morning, para 3 and 7 should better be viewed together. There, reference has to be to addressing ‘poverty – exclusion – inequality’, within and among countries. As for para 7, we should highlight the needs of the people in most vulnerable situation, like migrant workers, disabled.
We would again join all those who ask for robust reference to ‘climate change’ – which poses an existential threat to a growing number of countries across the globe. We would also support for building resilience, in a wider sense i.e. in terms of social, economic, environmental shocks.
Finally, it should be useful to revert to the chapeau of OWG report and have a concise form of it – as India has just underlined. That chapeau was wrapped up with most of the elements in a balanced manner, capturing both substance and underlying political underpinning rather cautiously.
I thank you.
Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh
IGN on Post 2015 Dev Agenda
NY, 20 Feb 2015
Mr Co facilitator,
We appreciate your continuing work on the Declaration. The Discussion Document is a good work in progression.
The statements by South Africa, for G 77, and Benin, for LDCs, have captured much of what we would have liked to say. Since morning, a number of delegations have also covered many of our broad points. Let me thus underline the aspects that Bangladesh would still emphasise, building on what we said earlier in the week.
First, since morning, many have emphasized that this Agenda and Declaration is about people. It is about bringing transformation in the lives and livelihoods of people, especially those in the bottom, across all countries. The Declaration is therefore to connect with ordinary people in villages and streets, with the inter-linked, ambitious, inspirational and aspirational architecture. Hence, we would agree with Fiji that it has to be a ‘Compact’ among all actors, all States – to lead our peoples towards a life of prosperity, well-being and dignity. And the Compact should aim at mobilizing our individual and collective actions for sustainable development.
Second, if we are to connect with people, early in the Declaration a cogent and brief ‘narrative’ is needed – connecting with people’s understanding of Development in terms of their diverse yet common realities and aspirations. And then, it should be balanced with the text of Para 15. In that context, we would suggest for the Declaration to pronounce on some of the elements that has transformative potential during the next 15 years period and beyond.
….. For instance, population dynamics and mobility; connectivity of movement of goods, services, energy, finance, investment, people, ideas, culture; deepening regional economic integration; ICT for Development.
These relate to productive capacities of people and economies at diverse levels and should be key to secure paradigm shifts.
Third, pronouncement on universal values, principles and purposes in a comprehensive manner is crucial. As we said earlier, mutual trust and mutual respect must underpin our global endeavours. Reference to the Rio Principles is central. In regard to ‘shared responsibility’, much that we have heard till now, while ‘sharing’ is absolutely desired, it has to be in terms of ‘shared commitment’ and ‘shared responsibility’ for ‘shared prosperity’.
Fourth, paragraphs 9, 12, 13 of the text relates to ‘implementation’ issues. We would however need further clarity on the ‘elements’ and their ‘inter-linkages’ over the coming weeks – on enabling environment, institutions, (national) policy space, national ownership, mainstreaming across national processes, partnerships. This is crucial to ensure balance at global and national levels, with required transparency. We agree to draw a wider set of actors at national and sub-national levels for effective national implementation, including legislatures. This is important to make difference in case of intricate SDGs unlike MDGs. All these will have to be weighed in respect of diverse capacity and differentiated need for support for the countries. At the same time, ‘mutual accountability’ would need to be de-configured and at the national level; and also judged about their applicability in context of diverse level of development of countries. As for global implementation review, we recognize the role of HLPF.
Fifth, Mr. Co-facilitator, in para 3, you tried to reflect on the challenges as well as opportunities before us in the coming period. As some of have underlined since morning, para 3 and 7 should better be viewed together. There, reference has to be to addressing ‘poverty – exclusion – inequality’, within and among countries. As for para 7, we should highlight the needs of the people in most vulnerable situation, like migrant workers, disabled.
We would again join all those who ask for robust reference to ‘climate change’ – which poses an existential threat to a growing number of countries across the globe. We would also support for building resilience, in a wider sense i.e. in terms of social, economic, environmental shocks.
Finally, it should be useful to revert to the chapeau of OWG report and have a concise form of it – as India has just underlined. That chapeau was wrapped up with most of the elements in a balanced manner, capturing both substance and underlying political underpinning rather cautiously.
I thank you.
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