UNB, Dhaka :
Noting that the South-South cooperation has advanced a great deal in the planning process, Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Sunday said the development partners can contribute richly in overcoming the real problem of coordination among the concerned countries to have a successful South-South cooperation.
“The real problem of South-South cooperation is of course coordination… I believe that the development partners can contribute richly in this regard. I think that’s where we should look forward for further cooperation and effective management,” he said.
The Finance Minister was addressing the inaugural session of the National Consultation
Workshop on Effective South-South Triangular Cooperation and Knowledge Sharing held at the NEC conference room in city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. State Minister for Finance MA Mannan and UNDP country director Pauline Tamesis spoke as special guests at the session, chaired by Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin. Muhith also said that necessary political will for advancement of the development policy is essential as without it none could move anywhere.
Underscoring the need for forging partnership, he said it is now universally accepted that to achieve successes nationwide, there is a need to involve every parties including private sector and civil society.
The Finance Minister said: “The South-South cooperation is an accepted phenomenon as there is no hesitation from the part of the development partners to this end.”
The South-South cooperation, he said, has advanced a great deal in the planning process in working out plans for any particular sector while the multilateral banks have contributed quite substantially in triangular cooperation. Muhith also noted that “knowledge sharing yesterday is at a very high level” more because of the technological developments as well as more efforts for knowledge sharing as it was the ICT which made all these differences.
Lastly, he said that South-South cooperation is very effective, knowledge sharing is essential while North-South cooperation should not be forgotten and prominence should also be given on it.
State Minister for Finance MA Mannan said that since Bangladesh has been planning to become a mid-income country by 2021, its cooperation with the neighboring countries of the South and development partners in the North is vital. “We believe in South-South cooperation for better synergies, and we need to increase the effectiveness of both aid and trade in delivering the goals of development in the South,” he added.
Referring to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision to become a developed country by 2041, the State Minister said that gaining the target is possible if there is political stability and realistic foreign policy.
ERD secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin said that political challenges are impeding the trade relations in many aspects. There is a need to ensure that different kinds of cooperation are delivered in a synergic manner to ensure national development.
He also underscored the need for addressing some issues like strengthening institutional framework for South-South cooperation; enhancing the capacity to articulate the needs of the beneficiary countries; resource sharing arrangements; political commitment; broad-based partnership; and involvement of the private sector and civil society alongside government.
