Bangladesh on right track: Helen Clark
Visiting UNDP Administrator Helen Clark calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gono Bhaban in the city yesterday. Photo: PID
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark yesterday said Bangladesh is on the right track towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She was referring to Bangladesh's winning the MDG-4 Award while paying a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Gono Bhaban. UNDP is willing to assist Bangladesh in its National Population Registration (NPR) aiming to include the country's total population into a database system. Currently, people aged 18 years and above are included in the electoral roll and as a result, a huge portion of the population remained out of the digitalised data based system in the country. Briefing the reporters after the meeting, prime minister's Deputy Press Secretary M Nazrul Islam said Clark thanked Sheikh Hasina for her government's relentless efforts to push the country forward to achieve socio-economic progress and the MDGs. UNDP's eagerness to assist Bangladesh to constitute the Innovation Programme Fund and different aspects of South-South cooperation featured prominently during the discussion. Both Hasina and Clark agreed that foreign countries can follow Bangladesh's splendid achievements in preparing voters list, micro credit, climate change adaptation program, launching of digitalised information and service at union levels and strengthening local government bodies as well as sanitation proprammes. Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, lauded Hasina for her dynamic leadership in running the country and assured to continue UNDP assistance in different socio-economic sectors of Bangladesh. Hasina thanked UNDP for its support to Bangladesh's socio-economic development and its valuable contribution in preparing voter identity cards. She said as the coordinator of the donors of Bangladesh, UNDP is doing an excellent job for the country's socio-economic progress. The PM said Bangladesh is advancing satisfactorily in several thrust areas like poverty alleviation, increasing the country' s connectivity, providing health services to the people by setting up community health clinics, attaining gender parity, and stopping drop outs from schools. She said the aim of the present government is to ensure sound health for the people and has plans to impart training to the birth attendants from the community health clinics for their skill development. Referring to Bangladesh's huge skilled labor force and scarcity of land, Hasina said the countries having vast land could allow Bangladeshi migrants to work on their arable lands. “The food thus produced can be shared by the migrant workers and the host countries, which will eventually help reduce global food shortages,” she said. Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin, Principal Secretary to the PM MA Karim and ERD Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan were present at the meeting. Helen Clark also met with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in the afternoon. Dipu Moni said Bangladesh advocates for an effective UNDP, which would promote greater voices of both the developing countries and least developed ones. Commending the longstanding partnership between Bangladesh and the UNDP, Clark recalled the UNDP's relief and rehabilitation assistance immediately after the country's War of Liberation. Reaffirming Bangladesh's commitment to play a constructive role as a member of the UNDP Executive Board, Dipu Moni assured Clark that Bangladesh would promote the South-South cooperation for sharing of best practices for development and digitalisation, trade-related preferences for LDCs and also promote the global campaign for climate adaptation fund.
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