Statement by Ms. Shanchita Haque, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations at the Annual Session 2017 of the Executive Board of the UNCDF New York, 8 September 2017

Statement by

Ms. Shanchita Haque, Counsellor,

Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations at the Annual Session 2017 of the Executive Board of the UNCDF

New York, 8 September 2017

Thank you, Mr. President.

  1. On behalf of Bangladesh delegation, I assure you of our sincere support and cooperation during your presidency. We appreciate the statement delivered by UNCDF Executive Secretary Ms. Judith Carl which provides a detailed overview of the efforts made and challenges faced by the UNCDF in achieving sustainable development goals particularly through the new “Strategic Plan 2018-2021”.
  2. The new QCPR calls for a strong United Nations Development System to provide support to the developing countries in implementing the SDGs. It recognizes that the LDCs are badly in need of resources to translate their development plans and SDGs into meaningful actions. UNCDF’s strategic Framework 2018-2021 gives the future direction towards achieving the mandated goals for the sustainable development. We believe this new Strategic Framework will position UNCDF very well to support LDCs in achieving their graduation and development goals.

Mr. President,

  1. We appreciate the approach adopted by the UNCDF in financing the SDGs which involves the community towards sustainability by way of innovative project design such as climate change adaptability. It is encouraging to see that UNCDF’s financing methods are keen to leverage the private sector financing which would be the key to success in SDG implementation if they are replicated in greater number of countries.
  2. We thank UNCDF for presenting the updated methodology for calculating the operational reserve. We agree that the existing methodology is indeed in need of an update in light of the changes in UNCDF’s business model and funding mix since 1979 and welcome the proposed revisions to the methodology for core and the proposal for the first time of a non-core methodology. We believe the new methodology would reasonably provide for mitigation of risks associated with the utilization of UNCDF resources, while allowing UNCDF to maintain its focus on LDCs.

Mr. President,

  1. During its partnership with Bangladesh for 40 years, UNCDF has been supporting several area ranging from local agriculture, fiscal decentralization, financial inclusion, local service delivery, climate change resilience, and municipal finance. We appreciate that by using Bangladesh’s platform of financial inclusion, UNCDF has also begun supporting access to digital financial services, with a special focus on empowering women and helping retail merchants access to smart business solutions. Out of the concrete stories of success, the challenge before us is to replicate them and scale them up by mobilizing resources at the country level and through international cooperation.

Mr. President,

  1. UNCDF is playing a constructive role in LDCs towards supporting the national governments in implementing the vision and strategies which are aimed at achieving the SDGs. We hope that adequate resources would be made available to the UNCDF so that it can continue its commendable work with the vulnerable countries.

I thank you, Mr. President.