Bangladesh creating policy vision, facilitating private sector investment in SDGs: Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has put forward Bangladesh's vision and progress on SDGs and 'digital Bangladesh' at two high-level side events at the UNHQ in New York where she is attending the general assembly meeting.

"The private sector in developing countries already account for 60% of GDP, 80% of capital flows and 90% of jobs. It bears logic that partnership with the private sector is actively factored in for financing SDGs," she said at the meeting on SDGs.

"In Bangladesh, the private sector is coming forward as a strong and willing partner. Under our Seventh Five Year Plan, we expect the private sector to finance two-thirds of our national development efforts."

"In our aspiration to become a strong middle-income country by 2021, we need the private sector firmly by our side," she added.

On Vision 2021, she said that Bangladesh was promoting a culture of innovation and service within our government.

"Our Vision 2021 of Digital Bangladesh is a reflection of our new culture. Engaging the larger society for achieving the SDGs is our motto," she added.

She said, "as we are here to share as to how countries in the global South are fostering cooperation to achieve the 2030 Agenda, we will look at how advanced countries in the North are extending their support in this regard." 

"Bangladesh is long known as a development laboratory. The country has now firmly added public service delivery to its focus areas for innovation."

"We set up over 13,000 One-stop Digital Centres in all local government institutions and post offices. Millions of citizens now get easy access to over a hundred public and private services.

"These include critical services like birth registration, land records, passports, banking and e-Commerce. In 2016 alone, citizens saved over 1.5 billion dollars and 1 billion person days by avoiding travelling to the district headquarters," she continued.

According to UNCTAD, the world will need 3.3 to 4.5 trillion dollars a year to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It would be a major challenge for our Governments to mobilize such resources. The private sector needs to be on board to address the financing gaps.

"With that in mind, we have set up a number of entities under my office to mobilize increased private sector investment. The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority is working on facilitating large investments, with focus on FDI."

"The Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority is setting up 100 Special Economic Zones in the next few years. The Office of Public-Private Partnerships is speeding up PPP projects and building capacity of public institutions for the purpose.

"The Principal SDG Coordinator based in my office oversees the work of all these entities. This we have done consciously to link private sector investment with SDGs. 

"Thanks to many such initiatives, FDI in Bangladesh rose from under 1 billion dollars in 2010 to 2.5 billion in 2016," she added.

She said that there was a new form of investment opportunities such as impact investment which seeks both financial and social returns.

"I thank UNDP for recognising the potential for such investments and creating the UNDP Social Impact Finance (UNSIF). This can be a critical tool for unlocking private investment to complement government and donor funding for SDGs.

"The first investment of this Fund will be in Bangladesh under the banner of the “Build Bangladesh - UNDP Impact Fund”.

"It adds to the list of many innovative firsts that Bangladesh has offered to the world. I am pleased to hear that the initial endowment of the Fund will be used for affordable housing in Bangladesh, with the support of Chinese impact investors."

"I hope that the Build Bangladesh Fund will do justice to its name and will be an example not only in Bangladesh but also globally," she hoped.

Hasina also said that the countries in the South were often well-positioned to understand each other’s development realities and challenges.

"We, therefore, need to promote a deeper understanding and broader exchange within the South."

"We are unveiling today the publication “South-South in Action: Citizen-Friendly Public Service Innovation in Bangladesh”.

She thanked the UN Office for South-South Cooperation for its interest and support.

Last year, Bangladesh proposed a ‘South-South Network on Public Service Innovations’, the prime minister said.

Quoting an African as saying, she said, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

"I think if we want to go far and fast, we need to be innovative together," she concluded.