Bangladesh will revive efforts for greater access of manufactured goods from least developed countries (LDCs) to big markets as the new chair of the coordination council of LDCs as part of its push for a bigger role in UN-based organisations.
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury told this at a press briefing yesterday.
Bangladesh has been elected chairman of the coordination council of LDCs on October 5 following a tense diplomatic standoff between a number of African and Asian states on the sidelines of the 62nd UN General Assembly sessions.
The latest role is part of a broader effort by the foreign ministry to utilise the UN mechanisms in a greater way, as described in the 10-point foreign policy plan revealed by the foreign adviser last week.
Iftekhar said, "Multilateral diplomacy is an essential ingredient of Bangladesh foreign policy and the United Nations is center in this regard."
Talking to The Daily Star, the foreign ministry officials hoped that Dhaka's latest role would help local readymade garment exporters to leverage in international trade negotiations to open up major European and North American markets.
African countries have led the Group of LDCs for the past five years.
As a bloc, African countries have pushed for greater access and better prices for commodities and raw materials in the world market, which pushed down the priorities of Asian countries which have moved to manufacturing and service-oriented industries.
"We will lead the debate in the international economic negotiations on behalf of LDCs, particularly for greater aid, investments and market access," Iftekhar said.
He said the UN would also be Bangladesh's forum to negotiate its demands to mitigate the effects of climate change, as Dhaka is pushing hard for a three-pronged approach.
The adviser said Dhaka's new charge for mitigating the effects of climate change also hinges on UN mechanisms that include Bangladesh's call to build a UN-based low-premium insurance for high-prevalence natural calamities, which may provide financial cover for Bangladesh's frequent flood damages.
Launched by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed during his speech at the high-level panel on climate change on September 24, Dhaka's demand comprises creation of a UN-driven system for providing 'weather derivatives', for least developed countries to be affected by climate change.
This would entail creating a global system for giving these climate changes affected LDC countries low-premium insurance to hedge against high-probability events, such as the likelihood of floods occurring on a bigger scale than average.
A UN-backed conference on climate change to be held in Bali in December would also be the forum for Dhaka to call for climate change adaptation assistance based on population sizes from the international community for countries most affected by climate change.
Dhaka's demands also include a greater international focus on the impending problem of 'refugees' created by natural disasters brought about by climate change.