Bangladesh has traversed a long and difficult path from new nationhood, devastated by war and famine, to its undeniable influence as a UN member state at the threshold of LDC graduation,
Alongside the distress and turmoil, there has been a massive success. It has provided shelter to 900,000 Rohingya refugees.
Bangladesh's achievements in human development, especially in maternal and child mortality, immunisation, school enrollment and other social indicators even at relatively lower levels of per capita income, made the country a glaring example for other countries to emulate, according to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This was well-recognised in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. Subsequent achievements in sustained growth and poverty alleviation have brought the country to the point of graduating out of LDC status. Bangladesh has also emerged as an example to emulate in the area of disaster risk management, it added.
The UN has been a partner of the government and the people of Bangladesh for five decades now.
Starting with UNHCR in 1971, 22 UN agencies now have operations in the country, Bangladesh too has been an active member state in the UN since 1974 and has shaped the UN's development and peace operations.
Bangladesh was vocal in shaping the 2030 Agenda and the sustainable development goals. It was one of the early supporters of the UN Development System Reforms and contributed to the Special Purpose Trust Fund for the Resident Coordinator system.
It has been a vocal advocate for multilateralism, climate justice and LDCs. Bangladesh sponsored the Culture of Peace resolution that was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1999.
Bangladesh is now among the largest troop contributors to the UN's peacekeeping missions.
The path ahead is long and difficult; the country must recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2030 Agenda leaving not one person in Bangladesh behind, enhances gender equality, ends poverty and becomes a developed nation, the statement continued.
