Bangladesh has called upon the Commonwealth leaders to become the collective and common voice of the most vulnerable countries and help address current challenges.
The most vulnerable countries include LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and countries with special needs during the post-Covid global socio-economic recovery initiatives, and called for assurances that LDCs meeting the graduation thresholds would continue to receive all flexibilities
Bangladesh High Commissioner Saida Muna Tasneem made the call while addressing the virtual Commonwealth Leaders meeting on the COVID-19 crisis earlier this week.
She said Bangladesh is delivering public health services and humanitarian emergency aide to people’s door steps, utilizing ‘GovTech’ and ‘DevTech’ under Digital Bangladesh vision.
Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of 30 Commonwealth member countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Belize, Bahamas, Uganda, Tanzania, Guyana, and the Gambia attended the meeting, said the High Commission on Saturday.
High Commissioner Tasneem briefed the Commonwealth leaders about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s post-Covid innovative digitalization initiatives in public services including 333-digital helpline for emergency health support, Muktopaath (an internationally award-winning open e-Learning program) for training doctors, Food for Nation App to ensure emergency supply chains, EkShop App (e-commerce platform) for connecting farmers with consumers, ‘2-minute’ online bank account from home, digital wallets for payments of wages, Bangladesh Post Office Digital Financial transaction “Nagad” and various other digital services during Covid-19 emergency.
Echoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s six priorities of global action to combat Covid-19 at the World Economic Forum’s Covid Response Dialogue, High Commissioner Tasneem called upon the Commonwealth leaders to become the collective and common voice of the most vulnerable countries.
In the meeting, Commonwealth leaders appreciated Bangladesh Prime Minister’s $11.50 billion financial and social safety-net support packages for the most vulnerable segments of the society including the RMG and daily workers and her ‘GovTech’ and ‘DevTech’ initiatives.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General acknowledged Bangladesh’s early warning system and disaster preparedness including quick evacuation of 2.5 million people from the coastal area during Cyclone Amphan.UNB
