‘Graft, terrorism threat to SDGs implementation’

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yesterday said corruption, and terrorism and violent extremism are the two most important challenges that appear to be a serious threat to the implementation of SDGs across the globe, reports UNB.    
“Bangladesh is no exception,” he said while addressing the inaugural session of a seminar in the city on ‘Implementing SDGs in Bangladesh: Challenges and Policy Options.’
Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) arranged the seminar at its conference room.
The Foreign Minister said while the 2030 Agenda has charted out a comprehensive pathway to development, its implementation in a country like Bangladesh is not easy.
“There’re a number of cross-cutting issues that pose great challenges in achieving the targeted goals,” he said.
Mobilisation of financial resources—both internal and external— is another major area that needs to be efficiently addressed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), said the Foreign Minister.
He said addressing the gaps in SDG data and keeping tracks on progress on the goals and indicators would be another key challenge for a country like Bangladesh.
“We often face lack of coordination among our ministries, agencies and other stakeholders. We need to improve not only the inter-agency coordination mechanism, but also the inter-wing coordination of a single ministry/organisation,” he added.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh Dr Ahsan Mansur, BIDS Director General Dr KAS Murshid Member (Senior Secretary), GED, Planning Commission Prof Dr Shamsul Alam, Director BIISS Chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Director General Major General AKM Abdur Rahman, Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh Farah Kabir, Jahangir Nagar University Associate Prof Sharmind Neelormi, senior fellow of BIISS Dr Mahfuz Kabir and Prof AK Enamul Haque of East West University, among others, spoke at various sessions.
Terming SDGs a political declaration, the Foreign Secretary said, “There’s huge promise and huge excitement. But there’s also lots of works.” He laid emphasis on leadership at all levels to successfully implement the SDGs through joint efforts.
The Foreign Secretary also laid emphasis on maintaining stability for successful implementation of the SDGs.
As means of implementation of SDG wide range of stakeholders that include government, private sector, NGOs, civil society and individual citizens have been brought into the fold.

 

Graft, terrorism threat to SDGs implementation

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yesterday said corruption, and terrorism and violent extremism are the two most important challenges that appear to be a serious threat to the implementation of SDGs across the globe, reports UNB. Bangladesh is no exception, he said while addressing the inaugural session of a seminar in the city on Implementing SDGs in Bangladesh: Challenges and Policy Options. Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) arranged the seminar at its conference room. The Foreign Minister said while the 2030 Agenda has charted out a comprehensive pathway to development, its implementation in a country like Bangladesh is not easy. Therere a number of cross-cutting issues that pose great challenges in achieving the targeted goals, he said. Mobilisation of financial resourcesboth internal and external is another major area that needs to be efficiently addressed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), said the Foreign Minister. He said addressing the gaps in SDG data and keeping tracks on progress on the goals and indicators would be another key challenge for a country like Bangladesh. We often face lack of coordination among our ministries, agencies and other stakeholders. We need to improve not only the inter-agency coordination mechanism, but also the inter-wing coordination of a single ministry/organisation, he added. Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque, Executive Director of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh Dr Ahsan Mansur, BIDS Director General Dr KAS Murshid Member (Senior Secretary), GED, Planning Commission Prof Dr Shamsul Alam, Director BIISS Chairman Munshi Faiz Ahmad, Director General Major General AKM Abdur Rahman, Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh Farah Kabir, Jahangir Nagar University Associate Prof Sharmind Neelormi, senior fellow of BIISS Dr Mahfuz Kabir and Prof AK Enamul Haque of East West University, among others, spoke at various sessions. Terming SDGs a political declaration, the Foreign Secretary said, Theres huge promise and huge excitement. But theres also lots of works. He laid emphasis on leadership at all levels to successfully implement the SDGs through joint efforts. The Foreign Secretary also laid emphasis on maintaining stability for successful implementation of the SDGs. As means of implementation of SDG wide range of stakeholders that include government, private sector, NGOs, civil society and individual citizens have been brought into the fold.