Hasina calls for financial, technological help from rich countries to achieve SDGs

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the international community to extend financial, technological, and financial assistance to help developing countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

She made this appeal in a statement during the closing session of the UN Summit for the adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda at the UN headquarters on Sunday, a BSS report said.

She underlined Bangladesh success in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and said there was no alternative to international cooperation in achieving the newly adopted SDG goals.

“We must realise the Agenda recognising the different national circumstances, capacities and levels of development. Respecting national policies, priorities and policy space would be equally important. In order to sustain our progress and truly transform, we will have to address inequalities in all forms across the Agenda.”

She also stressed transparency in the workings of international trade and financial institutions.

She said the achievement of the MDGs had “helped Bangladesh to advance towards graduation as a Middle Income Country”.

The prime minister attributed this success to the Bangladesh government’s “commitment and policy environment”.

She called for an international pledge to help fulfil the SDGs (Agenda 2030).

“Now that the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and the ‘Addis Ababa Action Agenda’ are adopted, we all must pledge to their full and effective realisation.

“As much as our social, economic and environmental challenges are inter-linked, we need to deliver on the existing and emerging issues and their potentials in an integrated manner.”

Regarding Bangladesh’s preparation to pursue the goals, she said: “As part of our national preparation, Bangladesh is aligning its Seventh Five-Year Plan with the new global Agenda.”

She said if a deal was struck at the upcoming Climate Summit in Paris, it would go a long way in helping the achievement of the SDGs.

“We must ensure that this Agenda and the Climate deal deliver on the shared objectives of protecting and harnessing the present and the future of humanity for shared prosperity.”

The heads of state and government of Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Russia, Qatar, Maldives, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and representatives of the European Union also addressed the session.