Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on Tuesday said that the development partners were failing to fulfil their responsibility for the country’s development.
Muhith also said that there has been an aid fatigue among the country’s development partners who were trying to shrug off their responsibility. ‘The development partners come up with suggestions but they ignore their part of the responsibility,’ he said while speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of a three-day regional conference on financing graduation gap of the least developed countries (LDCs) of Asia-Pacific.
Representatives of twelve LDCs from the region are taking part in the conference for assessing the progress and finding out the financing sources to meet the gaps for graduation from the LDC category to the middle income ones.
The Economic Relations Division in association with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs organised the conference being held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in the capital.
Muhith said that the development partners should understand the importance of the LDSc.
‘They need to understand that they need us. Without our participation they will face crisis,’ he said.
Muhith also said that for graduation from the LDC by 2020 Bangladesh needs to emphasis on five issues including local resources mobilisation, poverty reduction, developing human index and increasing use of technology.
‘Poverty reduction is very important because otherwise you cannot expand the market,’ he said.
‘Another important issue is climate change and we have taken some measures for that also. But I am not sure how effective those will be,’ he said.
State minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said that Bangladesh is doing well and
its achievement is recognised by the world.
‘We need to include Bangladesh and other LDCs into the global value chain and take advantage of today’s global village,’ he said.
ERD secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin said there will be seven working sessions in the conference where policymakers will present several papers on the development issues.
Fifty-five policymakers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are participating in the conference.
-With New Age input
