BSS, Dhaka :
Outgoing UN resident coordinator in Dhaka Neal Walker has said the expected elevation of Bangladesh’s status as a Middle Income Country in next few years would result in a changed pattern of its ties with the United Nations.
“We hope to see an evolution of the UN partnership in Bangladesh . . . whenever Bangladesh will be a middle income country, the UN resources will be less and less,” he said in an interview with BSS, signaling the country to get prepared to reduce dependence on external resources for its development endeavors in the coming years.
He added: “The relation will have to change as it has changed in other countries which were elevated to the status of the middle income countries. But the UN will be a very strong partner in achieving the status”.
Walker was talking to BSS at the fag end of his more than three and half years of tenure in Bangladesh last week while he was set to join as UN resident coordinator in Ukraine.
The senior UN official was highly appreciative of Bangladesh’s rapid development in the past years, earning for its position on the top of the list of least developed countries (LDCs) in achieving the UN-set Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“It is clear that Bangladesh performance in regard to MDGs is spectacular,” he said referring to a study that found out Bangladesh’s performance to be the best among the 49 LDCs.
Walker said the UN system acknowledges it to be the achievement of the country and the series of governments which governed Bangladesh but added that the role of the UN as a partner was “very clear in achieving all those MDGs.
“Bangladesh is a country which overcame really, really difficult circumstances-you fought a liberation war (Eds:correct), you had your intellectual class massacred, you had a famine, cyclones and many people in the world thought Bangladesh will be doomed . . . on the contrary Bangladesh has made remarkable achievements,” he said.
He attributed the “remarkable achievements” to successive governments particularly since 1990s which “were committed to social developments, strong NGO community that operate in a conducive environment to fill up the resource gaps as the government does not have the resource to fill the gaps.
“(Above all) it (success) came from the Bangladesh people with the energy and commitment they have, the national pride they have,” Walker said.
The UN coordinator particularly praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for spearheading the development campaign in different sectors while termed her as “champion of gender equality” for her initiatives for women empowerment.
“I will argue that achieving gender quality is one of the fastest ways for Bangladesh to achieve real equity in development,” he said.
Walker said the incumbent government also took “a very ambitious position” in the post MDG global debate as the timeframe for the MDGs is set to expire next year and added “I believe Bangladesh will get a lot of credit in the global debate”.
He said Bangladesh manifested its respect for the MDG as the commitment to the UN set goals cut across all the political parties while the successive governments “had strong explicit commitment to MDGs, the growth with equity and goals of MDGs”.
Walker said the UN now strongly supports Bangladesh in upholding its position in the SDG strategy debate as “Bangladesh is taking part in the global debate with strong credentials” by being one of the most populace LDG by doing better in achieving the MDGs.
In that process, he said, the current government took a “very positive and ambitious position in areas of real importance to the country like nutrition”.
“The food security is a challenge which the country already achieved. So now the issue of nutrition has appeared to be a challenge. 40 percent under 5 children are malnourished. Bangladesh too a very progressive position in this regard in the global debate,” he said.
Walker identified Bangladesh role in the debate on human rights to be another area where “Bangladesh is calling for inclusion of the issue of respecting the environmental human rights in the post MDG standards. “This also is a very progressive stand.”
“You can say Bangladesh is very strong voice in defining the global framework to replace MDG,” he said.
Asked which were the areas he thought Bangladesh could have done better he replied “environment”. “Environment is very clearly one which is not performing. The goal on environment is perhaps one where weak progress has been made. Everybody knows, all Bangladeshis know that rivers are polluted, the air is polluted, and the food is often contaminated. This constitutes a huge challenge,” Walker said.
He said to move forward one of the challenges for Bangladesh was how to “leapfrog the development models which are out there such that you don’t continue with models which impels massive pollution for economic growth”.
Walker said “how do you invest in green technology, how do you invest in industry and require the industry to keep the air and water clean” remained to be the issues but “I really hope the government and the industry to conform to address the challenge”.
He suggested intensified focus on measures like integrated pest management system (IPM) for reduced dependence in pesticides, continued investment in CNG transports and greener technology for brick building and other industries including tannery plants.
“All these will improve the quality of environment . . . these are the areas where the UN will be happy to support,” the UN official said but added “However, UN provides advice and technical support and UN system is not a major donor”.
Asked what he thought about obstacles for Bangladesh’s development, he said “I think it is the infrastructure, the issue of corruption, bureaucracy (red tape) as it takes longer time to get things done in Bangladesh than any other countries”.
“But I think that one of the big challenges is creation of an inclusive and constructive political debate around the future direction of the country,” Walker said.
He added: “What does it mean? I will leave that to Bangladesh, but I think it is important that there is an honest discussion among the political platforms . . . and the debate must be constructive and must be inclusive.”
