Unite to fight climate change, recession, terror

Hasina tell NAM leaders
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called for united approach of the Non-Aligned Movement grouping to deal with climate change, world economic recession and terrorism as the present-day world faces these three-pronged problems on way to progress.
The Bangladesh prime minister made the call in her country statement while presiding over the plenary session of the 15th NAM Summit after the opening of the meet at Maritim Congress Centre in the seafront resort city of Egypt.
“I believe climate change remains as one of the most daunting global challenges of our times. It has far-reaching effects on all nations of the world, particularly on the LDCs,” she told the leaders from the developing and economically emerging countries.
She pointed out that Bangladesh, situated in a low-lying delta, is deeply concerned with climate change and global warming.
“A perceptible rise in sea level would submerge a third of the country, burgeoning its already thick population and limited resources,” the prime minister told the summit meet.
She noted that although the LDCs have little responsibility for this universal dilemma of climate change, they remain highly vulnerable to its diverse impacts.
“Yet, unfortunately, their particular needs are often bypassed in formulating global policy solutions,” she told the forum.
On the global economic slowdown, Hasina said the world is now experiencing an intractable economic recession.
She said the most vulnerable countries, which are not responsible for this situation, however, stand to suffer the most.
The PM said the developed countries must accept that the financial crisis would further aggravate in the event of negligence of the current needs of developing countries, especially those of LDCs.
She observed that years of negligence to equity and justice, including basically an unfair international financial structure, has to a large extent contributed to this setback.
“Immediate restructuring of the global financial and economic system is the call of the day for overcoming the current crisis, and avoidance of similar recurrence in future,” she said before the big gathering of global leaders.
The PM said in the global trade, adoption of policies with narrow outlook would result in slowdown from which all would lose in the long run. Instead, she said, the developed countries should offer key development deliverables such as duty-free and quota-free market access, trade-capacity building and so on as stimulus package especially to Least Developed Countries (LDC).
Also, she noted, recovery measures should be designed so that employment opportunities of immigrant workers from developing countries are not adversely affected.
On Food, Hasina said the food crisis of the early 2008 still exists, and it is necessary for the international community to make long-term investment in food production, fertiliser, irrigation and agriculture technologies.
About terrorism, the prime minister said in today’s world terrorism demands more attention and resources than any other issue.
She said Bangladesh denounces terrorism in all its forms and also mentioned brutal assassinations of the Father of the Nation and her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family members.
“All acts of terror are fundamentally flawed and unequivocally criminal. Therefore, Bangladesh fully supports the Movement’s principled position on terrorism, and other measures recommended to deal with it,” she told the meet.
The PM said Bangladesh also recognises the value of regional anti-terrorism arrangements and instruments for combating terrorism and her government has proposed establishment of a South Asian Task Force on counter-terrorism and is now working with regional partners on its scope, dimension and modalities.

Courtesy of The Daily Star