Dhaka: Bangladesh has been elected as the new chairman of the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The new chairman was ceremonially handed over the responsibility of leading the 49 LDCs at New York on Thursday.

M Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Foreign Affairs, formally took over the role from the Minister of MDGs and SDGs of Benin, the immediate past Chairman of the Group, according to Foreign Ministry.

The meeting of LDC Minister, where the new chair is elected, takes places at the United Nations Headquarters every year on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations participated at the high profile meeting.

In his remarks, the Secretary-General called on the LDCs to invest efforts in implementing the recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He also assured the LDCs of full support of the UN systems in the LDC initiatives to graduate from the Group.

The State Minister for Foreign Affairs expressed thanks to the Least Developed Countries for expressing confidence on the leadership of Bangladesh by electing it unanimously as the next Chair of the Group.

He flagged that since becoming a member of the LDCs back in 1974, Bangladesh has always remained an active Member of the LDCs, promoting and protecting the interests of the 48 Member countries.

Shahriar highlighted the plans of Bangladesh during its tenure as the Chairman of the Group of LDCs.

He emphasized on the importance of maintaining harmony and coherence in the Group with its diverse membership. He referred to the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA), the roadmap of graduation for the LDCs, and informed that Bangladesh would hold consultations soon to ensure that the mid-term review of IPoA, scheduled to be held in Turkey next year, is successful, and is favourable to the LDCs.

The State Minister for Foreign Affairs 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 centre and regimes for LDCs.

The meeting was also attended by the Under-Secretary-General and United Nations 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.