More South-‐South cooperation is imperative for achieving sustainable development
Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen
Hong Kong, April 10, 2015:
Focusing mainly on preliminary global indicators, approaches to implementation of the goals, coordination with the financing for development process and technology facilitation mechanism, the member states of the UN are now negotiating on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
This was stated by the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN and President of the UN high- level committee on South-South Cooperation Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen at his keynote address at the 2-day long high-level forum on “South-South Cooperation for sustainable development in support of the post- 2015 development agenda and the decade of sustainable energy for all” here today.
The Post-2015 Development Agenda at the culmination of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to be adopted at a UN summit in September.
Elaborating the LDCs’ achievements in MDGs especially on poverty reduction, combating diseases, human resources development and infrastructure improvement, Abdul Momen said, Bangladesh had achieved most of the targets of MDGs 1 to 6, adding, it had maintained an average of 6.2 percent of GDP growth rate during the last six years. He said Bangladesh has achieved gender parity in all sectors and women are being empowered.
He said, more than 15 thousand community clinics and healthcare centers have been established in the rural areas of Bangladesh with access to free medicines to rural people.
Based on the experiences gathered during the implementation of MDGs, Abdul Momen said, a global partnership of all stakeholders is important for the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the action programs of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
He said, generation and supply of ever-growing demand of energy to cope with world development, we will have to ensure access to all especially the LDCs to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy within a specific timeline. Supports should be provided to increasing the share of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency to the LDCs. South-South Cooperation would play a pivotal role in this context, he added.
Highlighting the achievements of the South in economic and social sectors, Abdul Momen said, the countries of the South accounted for half of the world’s GDP in 2012 and by 2030, it would be raised to 60 percent of the global GDP. The volume of exports has been doubled between 2000 and 2008 which constituted about 50 percent of the world exports. The South also provides more than a third of global investments.
Abdul Momen said the South has been transforming traditional technological deficiencies into unprecedented new opportunities for development by expanding ICT at affordable prices.
Despite all progress made by the developing countries in recent years, he said, about 2.2 billion people of the South are living below the poverty level. Infrastructure deficiencies, shortage of safe drinking water,
inadequate sanitation is the major hurdles to achieve expected social development. Extreme weather events due to climate change have been aggravating the miseries of the South especially climate-vulnerable countries including Bangladesh.
Urging for multi-dimensional South-South Cooperation, Abdul Momen said, it is critical to face the development challenges in addition to the traditional North-South relationship. He especially emphasized on technology transfer among the South for generating sustainable energy which would create a better opportunity to increase trade and investment, ensuring social development in the South and implementing SDGs.