UN nominates Bangladeshi Scientist Firdausi Qadri for its Technology Bank Panel

The United Nations has announced the formation of a panel to assess the scope and functions of its proposed new 'Technology Bank', which includes Bangladeshi scientist Firdausi Qadri.

New York Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 27 Nov 2014, 06:28 AM
Updated : 27 Nov 2014, 06:28 AM

The bank will be dedicated to helping the least developed countries (LDCs) emerge out of poverty, said a statement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson.

Qadri is currently the director of the Centre for Vaccine Sciences at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).

Bangladesh's Permanent Representative at the UN AKA Momen told bdnews24.com: "We had proposed this technology bank's headquarters to be established in Dhaka during the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's 2011 visit to Bangladesh. Later a few other cities including, Istanbul gave the same proposal."

"The South-South Cooperation Summit of UN will be held in Dhaka in February. We will then propose the setting up of a 'Science and Technology Centre' in Dhaka. Even if we don't get the headquarters of technology bank, initiatives will taken to use this centre as the regional branch of it," he said.

The panel is chaired by Rwanda’s Romain Murenzi, currently Executive Director of the World Academy of Sciences in Trieste, Italy.
“The Secretary-General has asked the High-Level Panel to give practical recommendations on the matter, which can provide a strong impetus to accelerating structural transformation and sustainable development of the LDCs,” the statement by the UN chief's spokesperson reads.
The other members of the panel are Sudan's Mohamed Hassan, Bruce Lehman of the United States, South Africa's Tebello Nyokong, Denmark's Dorte Olesen, Nepal's Posh Raj Pandey, Haiti Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis, China Fang Xin, Turkey's Hakan Karatas, and the UN Under Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States Gyan Chandra Acharya.