Bangladesh to be no. 1 in achieving SDGs by 2030: Minister
Bangladesh will be the number one in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said today.
“We are already in the preparation course. We will come number one in implementing the SDGs,” he said while addressing a discussion on “Data for the SDGs” jointly organised by the UN Population Fund and The Daily Star at the latter’s conference hall in Dhaka.
The hardcore poverty in Bangladesh came down to 12.9 percent this year from 25.1 percent in 2005 and it will be 3.5 percent by 2030, he said.
“We want to see all people of the country having good food, have access to health and education…we want to put them in a comfortable zone,” the planning minister said.
Around 5.6 million people of the country still remain marginalised, he said adding: “If we leave them behind and don’t bring them to the mainstream, our economic growth will be subjected to criticism.”
Mustafa Kamal said Bangladesh is one of the best performers in achieving the Millennium Development Goals during the period of 2000-2015.
With the progress made in last 15 years, the speed of the country’s development has got new momentum since the declaration of the SDGs in late 2015 by the UN, he added.
UNFPA Bangladesh Country Representative Argentina Matavel Piccin said the key principle of the SDGs is to leave behind none.
For that to happen, she said, data will play a critical role in understanding who actually are now left behind and what are the crucial areas those need special attention.
Data for men and women, rural and urban or different age groups need to be disaggregated for the authorities to understand and take development interventions, Piccin said.
Professor Shamsul Alam, member of Planning Commission’s general economics division, said Bangladesh will implement the SDGs through the country’s national five-year plans.
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