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Dhaka     Tuesday   19 March 2024

PM for formulating practical roadmap to face global challenges

News Desk || risingbd.com

Published: 09:49, 22 September 2020   Update: 10:08, 22 September 2020
PM for formulating practical roadmap to face global challenges

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (File photo)

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the United Nations (UN) to formulate a “credible and practical roadmap” for all in implementing commitments and combating global challenges resolutely.

She made the call while delivering a statement virtually at a special session of the 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that began in New York on Monday (Bangladesh time Tuesday morning).

“To take the UN on the right course towards its centenary and beyond, the world body should provide a credible and practical roadmap for delivering on commitments and responding decisively to global challenges,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina also called upon the UN member states not to allow “geopolitical rivalries” to weaken the world body.

“We must not allow our geopolitical rivalries to weaken the UN … we owe it to the founding fathers and future generations to make the UN a truly effective global body for humankind as a whole,” she told the UNGA’s high-level session titled “Mark the 75th Anniversary of United Nations”.

She went on saying: “We have seen moments in history that made us re-group to change the course of human civilization. UN@75 presents another such moment. Let’s seize this moment.”

Pointing out the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime minister said it has made the achievement of the 2030 Agenda more challenging.

“The challenges of the present time, including the current pandemic, go beyond borders and it has exposed the inadequacies of the current international order,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said at the same time, the pandemic has shown that both developed and developing nations need the UN more than ever and multilateralism is the way forward.

The prime minister said Bangladesh owes a lot to the UN as the country has benefitted from UN-led efforts for the development. “Also in our modest way, we are contributing to the UN in fulfilling its mandates,” she said.

About the peacekeeping, the prime minister said Bangladesh is committed to upholding peace across the world and it is currently the leading troops and police-contributing country in all peace operations.

Talking about the UN’s 75th anniversary, Sheikh Hasina said in Bangladesh, the commemoration bears special significance as it coincides with the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Bangabandhu had said at this August assembly in 1974, … the United Nations remains the focus of man’s hope for the future. This encapsulates Bangladesh’s abiding faith and confidence in the UN and multilateralism,” she said.

For the first time in the UN’s 75-year history, the global leaders have joined virtually at the annual high-level session of the world’s apex platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dhaka/ZR/AI