Bangladesh for better sharing of ideas among Southern Nations

DHAKA, April 17, 2014 (BSS) – Bangladesh has made a strong call for better sharing of ideas and information on development successes among the Southern nations at the first High Level Meeting of the Global Partnership that ended in Mexico on Wednesday.

Finance Minister A M A Muhith who was leading the Bangladesh delegation at the global congregation on development cooperation,
highlighted the benefits that South-South Cooperation can bring in the field of trade, investment, labour migration and knowledge sharing.

Over 1500 participants from 130 countries came together at the two-day long summit to discuss the progress made so far in development co-operation and to anchor the Global Partnership in
a post-2015 development framework.

The Bangladesh delegation included Kazi Nabil Ahmed, MP,Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuyan and ERD Secretary M Mejbahuddin.

Governments, businesses, private foundations and civil societies came up with a joint communiqu, and 28 new initiatives during the High Level meeting to push forward effective development co-operation worldwide.

The Bangladesh Finance Minister also made a strong case for domestic resource mobilization for development during the High Level Meeting.

Showcasing the example of Bangladesh, he informed that the tax/GDP ratio in Bangladesh had gone up from 10.5 per cent in 2009 to 13.5 per cent in 2014.

Earlier on Tuesday, Muhith held a bilateral meeting with the UNDP Administrator Helen Clark where they discussed the Bangladesh Government’s plan to establish an “International Institute on Southern Innovation” in Dhaka.

During the meeting, they also discussed the economic growth prospects of Bangladesh while also exchanged views on the government’s plan to develop a road map for increasing administrative devolution in the country.

The High Level Meeting was formally inaugurated on April 15
through a formal opening ceremony which was attended among others by Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurr-a and President of Mexico Pe a Nieto.

This is the first High Level Meeting organized by the Global Partnership for effective Development Cooperation or GPEDC.Launched in Busan, South Korea in December 2011, GPEDC helps nations, businesses and organisations work better together to end poverty.

Bangladesh also made strong interventions regarding the aid transparency issues in the Mexico HLM, pleading for donors to be
transparent on the aid they invest in development countries.

Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan who was a panellist of the Focus Session on “Managing Diversity for Effective Development Cooperation” said despite some progress in this regard, development aid in Bangladesh is still significantly fragmented in terms of sectors and the number of donors involved.

He informed that in response to this aid fragmentation, Bangladesh has developed Local Consultative Group Mechanism, Joint Cooperation Strategy and a Development Result Framework which allow greater collaboration and ensures alignment with government priorities.

ERD Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin who was closely involved in the preparation of the “Mexico HLM Communiqu,”, emphasized the needs of tackling both structural and funding constraints in Least Development Countries in line with the commitments of “Istanbul Programme of Action”.

He also urged to review the current levels and modalities of official development assistance to help the LDC countries in achieving sustainable and inclusive development goals.

Kazi Nabil Ahmed MP, who took part in a meeting of parliamentarians from participating countries, discussed the oversight role of parliament in effective development cooperation.

Overall, the international community represented at the High Level Meeting reiterated its commitment to the Busan principles reached in 2011 and identified practical ways to translate these principles into reality.

Source: http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=2&id=403455&date=2014-04-17