State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shariar Alam has said that Bangladesh is well on its way to graduate from the LDCs, and is confident to reach its target in time.
He said under Vision-2021 of the present government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has been formulating and implementing all necessary policies in its national development plans to reach the middle income status by the golden jubilee of the country’s independence.
The state minister said this while sharing information with the Ministers from LDCs and other development partners plus UN agency representatives during a four-day LDC Ministerial Meeting on New Partnerships for building productive capacity in the Least Developed Countries that began in Cotonou, Benin on July 28 last.
President of Benin Thomas Yayi Boni inaugurated the meeting.
Shariar Alam, the Bangladesh state minister for foreign affairs, chaired the First Thematic session on the first day of the Ministerial Meeting on policy framework and institutions for productive capacity building.
During his deliberations in the meeting, he explained the vision and the perspectives of the present Government of Bangladesh in the context of importance of policy framework and institutions for productive capacity building.
Senior representatives from Governments, international agencies and intergovernmental organizations made presentations as panelists, while several high level dignitaries from different countries made interventions from the floor.
The discussions stressed the importance of giving high priority to the issue of building productive capacity in the LDCs for addressing the various challenges faced by these vulnerable countries in the issues of social, environmental and economic areas.
The state minister also disclosed that in the recently adopted Open Working Group outcome document, the productive capacity featured prominently which is the first priority area of Istanbul Program of Action for LDCs (IPoA).
Besides, Shahriar Alam campaigned for the candidature of Bangladesh for membership of the Human Rights Council, and for the post of Council Member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) among participating dignitaries.
He also attended a dinner hosted by the President of Benin on the first day of the meeting. Ministers and high level dignitaries from around 50 countries including Least Developed Countries and donor countries as well as Heads of different UN Agencies are attending the meeting in Benin.
The State Minister for Foreign Affairs is scheduled to return home tomorrow.
