Dhaka: Bangladesh has emphasised the need for international cooperation in addition to efforts by LDC governments for ensuring that the LDCs would be able to meet the target of graduation within the stipulated deadlines and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam raised the issue at the special thematic event titled ‘Building synergy and coherence in the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Thursday, according to a UNB report.

Referring to the midterm review conference of the Istanbul Programme of Action that will take place in Turkey in May 2016, the state minister called for combined efforts to help the LDCs overcome the structural weaknesses that they suffer from, according to a message received here from New York on Friday.

Shahriar Alam delivered keynote address at the event that was chaired by Mogens Lykketoft, President of the General Assembly, and was also attended by the Erik Solheim, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, and My Gyan Chandra Acharya, Under-Secretary-General of United Nations. Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator also participated in a panel discussion of the event.

In his statement, the State Minister flagged the leading role played by Bangladesh as the current Chair of the Group of 48 least developed countries.

Shahriar Alam also made interventions during the panel discussions of the special thematic event, where he shared the LDC perspectives on the issues of building synergy and coherence in implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and also the importance of strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships for timely implementation of these programmes.

The State Minister also delivered remarks at a seminar jointly organised by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh and the United

Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) on the role of local finance solutions in rural transformation.

The State Minister referred to the innovative financial inclusion mechanisms applied in Bangladesh that has dramatically reduced the percentage of extreme poor population in the country.

He highlighted the importance of putting focus on agricultural and rural development, involving the local finance sources, for achieving successful rural transformation and overall poverty eradication.