All-out effort continues to implement SDGs: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said her government has been making all-out efforts to implement the agendas of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country.

The premier said this when the Queen of Belgium Mathilde Marie Christine paid a courtesy call on her at the latter’s office here in the city.

PM’s Speech Writer Md. Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.

The targets of the 2030 global agenda, SDGs, were aligned in the country’s current 8th five-year plan and the perspective plan 2021-2041, the PM told Mathilde who is one of the UN SDG Advocates for 2021-2023.

During the meeting, different other issues the Russia-Ukraine war, the displaced Rohingya people,  women empowerment, girls education, health,  social safety net, disaster management and climate changes also came up for discussion.

About the war, the prime minister said the war should immediately be stopped to ease the sufferings of the people throughout the world.

“The Russia-Ukraine war created instability and high inflation throughout the world. The people are suffering. This should immediately be stopped,” she was quoted.

The visiting Belgian Queen lauded the progress of Bangladesh, attained under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, in different sectors.

She appreciated the development of women and children particularly in education.

Mathilde said she is very happy to see the progress of Bangladesh.

 Hasina informed the queen about her government’s steps for the women empowerment in various sectors including politics, defence and judiciary women education, as well as women employment and bringing the vulnerable women – elderly women, widows and abandoned women—under the social safety net.

She said the women and children are mainly getting the primary healthcare services from more than 18,000 community clinics location throughout the country. Some 30 types of free medicine are provided from the clinics.

About the Rohingya issue,  Hasina said Bangladesh gave the shelter to Rohingya people on the humanitarian grounds. The government installed field hospitals the Rohingya camps for thousands of pregnant women who initially arrived here in Cox’s Bazar during the Rohingya influx to Bangladesh, she said.

She said Bangladesh has so far relocated 34,000 Rohingya people to Bhashanchar island from Cox’s bazar, ensuring an improved environment for them there.

Focusing on the disaster management, the PM said the success of Bangladesh on the disaster management has been globally acclaimed. The casualties in the recent cyclones and other disasters drastically declined.

The government constructed cyclone shelter centres and durable houses on the coastal areas and trained up 85,000 volunteers throughout the country for disaster management, she said.

Noting that Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries,  Hasina raised her government’s initiatives to offset the impacts of climate changes, including formation of climate trust fund, creating green-belt, building dams and durable houses on the coastal areas.

Information and Broadcasting Minister  Hasan Mahmud, PM’s Principal Secretary M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah and Maritime Affairs Secretary at the Foreign Ministry Rear Admiral (retd.) Md. Khurshed Alam were present at the meeting.

The Queen of Belgium arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning on a three-day working visit to Bangladesh in her capacity as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) advocate.

The queen visited a garment factory in Narayanganj, a UNICEF school in Dhaka on Monday, and visited the largest refugee camp in the world at Kutupalong in Cox’s Bazar, which hosts more than a million Rohingyas, on Tuesday.