Bangladesh has been unanimously elected as the new Chairman of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The new chair ceremonially assumed the responsibility of leading 49 LDCs in New York on Thursday, a foreign ministry press release said yesterday. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam formally took over the role from the minister of MDGs and SDGs of Benin, the immediate past chairman of the group. The meeting of LDC ministers, where the new chair is elected, takes places at the United Nations headquarters every year on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Participating at the high profile meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the LDCs to invest efforts in implementing the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
He also assured the LDCs of full support of the UN systems in the LDC initiatives to graduate from the Group. In his acceptance speech, State Minister Shahriar Alam thanked the LDCs for the confidence on the leadership of Bangladesh by electing it the next chair of the group unanimously. He said that since becoming a member of the LDCs back in 1974, Bangladesh has always remained an active member, promoting and protecting the interests of the member countries. Alam highlighted the plans of Bangladesh during its tenure as the chairman of the group of LDCs, emphasising the importance of maintaining harmony and coherence in the group with its diverse membership.  The state minister also mentioned that Bangladesh, as the new chair of the LDCs, will be following up on the issue of Technology Bank for the LDCs, investment promotion mechanism, and crisis mitigation and resilience building fund. He also assured that Bangladesh would pursue for implementation of the LDC related commitments, including the investment promotion support center and regimes for LDCs. The meeting was also attended by the UN under-secretary-general and high representative for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS, deputy prime minister of Belgium and foreign ministers of Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Italy, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Tanzania, Turkey, Tuvalu, and representatives of Japan, European Union.