I thank you, Madam President.
Mr. Steiner, I thank you for your comprehensive report, and for your strong leadership of UNDP during this challenging period.
Bangladesh greatly values its strong partnership with the UNDP. Amidst the pandemic crisis, you delivered innovative solutions to pressing challenges. My thanks and tribute to all UNDP frontline staff globally for their dedication and valuable work during this time.
UNDP’s strength lies in its network of response and delivery across the world. Building on this, it can lead to many practical solutions. I would like to focus on two specific areas:
Firstly, on vaccines, Mr. Steiner, I echo your priority to ensure access to vaccines to everyone, everywhere. You would agree with me that transferring technology and IPR to LDCs could be one of the most effective ways to achieve this goal. We have the UN Technology Bank for LDCs, which can work as an ideal conduit for that. I would like to hear from you what UNDP can do to rally support for this cause in collaboration with other UN agencies and development partners?
Secondly, I am happy to see that UNDP has placed poverty and inequality as one of the priorities of its work in 2021. It is timely as the pandemic has led to the rise in global poverty for the first time since 1998. In our earlier efforts, the success in poverty reduction was not essentially matched by drop in inequality. We must have a new poverty paradigm now. If you can share with us, how UNDP can ensure in its policies and programmes such an approach to fight back poverty and inequality together?
I thank you, Madame President, and Mr. Administrator.