Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the government has been working relentlessly to further alleviate poverty and also for making the ongoing development efforts sustainable.
“Our main task is to unleash development, ensure modernization and poverty alleviation. Out of these three, I’ll put poverty alleviation in the first slot. Poverty is behind all problems like lack of healthcare facilities, lack of food and education,” he said.
The minister said this on Saturday while addressing the inaugural session of a programme titled ‘Citizens Conclave: Four years of SDGs in Bangladesh: Citizen’s Platform for SDGs in Bangladesh’ held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city.
Mannan said for attaining the SDGs, the government has undertaken a good number of steps as well as continuing the field works in this regard adding, “We’ll require a huge fund to attain the SDGs……….but, we’ve confidence that we’ll be able to mobilize that resources.”
The minister also cited that apart from the resource constraints, lack of data is also a barrier towards attaining the SDGs.
UN Resident Coordinator and Representative of UNDP Bangladesh Mia Seppo spoke on the occasion as guest of honour while core group member of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs in Bangladesh, Rasheda K Choudhury made an introduction of the initiative.
Chair of the inaugural session and Convenor of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs Bangladesh, Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya gave the opening remarks while Executive Director for Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Dr Fahmida Khatun presented the overview report. Coordinator of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh Anisatul Fatema Yusuf gave the vote of thanks. UN Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo underscored the need for addressing lack of data towards attaining the SDGs, reaching the benefits of development to every nook and corner and associating more the civil society towards attaining the SDGs.
