Staff Correspondent:
Dhaka, Aug-31,
Bangladesh Foreign
Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has called for stronger policies and support
measures for the least developed countries (LDCs).
Addressing the opening
session of the four-day Asia-Pacific Regional Review Meeting in Geneva on
Monday, the Minister, in fact, urged the global community to chalk out a new
international support architecture for the LDCs as well as the graduating LDCs.
The Asia-Pacific
meeting, jointly convened by the Bangladesh government, UN-OHRLLS and
UN-ESCAP, was held in preparations for
the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (UNLDC-5)
slated for January in Qatar.
Speaking at the event,
Dr Momen lauded the remarkable progress made by the majority of the LDCs in the
Asia-Pacific, particularly in reducing poverty and investing in human resources
and infrastructure.
He shared the
graduation story of Bangladesh under the dynamic, bold and visionary leadership
of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which has witnessed the per capita income
reaching $2,227 and reduction of poverty to 20.5 percent.
Rabab Fatima,
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN in New York,
chaired the opening session, while several top leaders, including Volkan
Bozkir, President of the UN General Assembly, Collen Vixen Kelapile, President
of the ECOSOC, Eisenhower Mkaka, Foreign Minister of Malawi and Chair of the
LDCs, and Faruk Kaymakci, Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey, spoke at the
event.
Foreign Minister Momen
also chaired one session of the regional review meeting, titled 'Ministerial
dialogue on lessons learned in the implementation of the IPoA-challenges
encountered and the way forward'.
During the day, he also
held meetings with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World
Health Organization (WHO), Daren Tang, Director General of the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Filippo Grandi, the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees at their offices in Geneva.
During his meeting with
Dr Tedros, the Foreign Minister emphasised on more effective role of WHO to
ensure the availability, affordability and equitable distribution of Covid-19
vaccines for the developing countries.
Dr Momen highlighted
the importance of the temporary waiver of TRIPS obligations on the production
of Covid-19 vaccines, medicines and other medical equipment.
He informed the WHO DG
of Bangladesh’s capacity to produce vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and
other medical equipment that would be crucial in the fight against the
pandemic.
During the meeting,
both Foreign Minister Momen and Dr Tedros commended the personal initiatives of
Saima Wazed, Member of WHO’s Advisory Panel on Mental Health, for bringing
mental health and autism issues in the mainstream of the health sector.
During his meeting with
the Director General of UNHCR Philippo Grandi, Dr Momen sought UNHCR’s support
to put pressure on Myanmar for sustainable repatriation of the Rohingyas from
Bangladesh.
During his meeting with
Daren Tang, the Director General of WIPO, Foreign Minister Momen sought WIPO’s
special support and facilitation for Bangladesh’s smooth graduation and
achievement of Vision 2041 by providing support in strengthening the IP sector
of Bangladesh.
Both Minister Momen and
DG Tang agreed that intellectual property should be a tool for development, and
should work as an incentive for SMEs, women entrepreneurs and the youth.
Bangladesh has been
playing an active leadership role in the multilateral fora on behalf of the
LDCs.
In recognition of that,
Ambassador Rabab Fatima, along with Ambassador Bob Rae, Permanent
Representative of Canada to the UN in New York, was elected co-chair of the LDC-5
Preparatory Committee Bureau, a key committee that will lead preparations for
the LDC-5 conference.
As a co-Chair,
Bangladesh will have the opportunity to push forward some of its key
priorities, including sustainable graduation and international support measures
for graduation.
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