International Chamber of Commerce’s Chairman Paul Polman has praised Bangladesh for the country’s major role in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) globally.
He spoke while addressing the guests at a reception hosted by the ICC Bangladesh at a city hotel in Dhaka on Sunday, according to a statement.
Polman said the MDGs had achieved notable progress on many global issues and given the hope to create a new world within existing means.
“That’s why the 2030 Agenda for SDGs has also offered a set of bold, ambitious and innovative package to transform the world,” he said in the statement.
“I believe Bangladesh’s businesses will be able to understand what the individual SDGs are actually about, how their own activity contributes towards the achievement of each one and the action and investment required.”
Polman also said that Bangladesh is consistently cited as one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. Long-term impacts from a rise in sea level and global temperature could displace millions of people.
Improving the country’s resilience to immediate and future climate risks is essential to the continuing development of Bangladesh, he added.
He highly praised the various activities of the ICC Bangladesh and its President Mahbubur Rahman.
Rahman said the global economy enjoyed a mini-boom between the end of 2016 and early 2018, when growth picked up in most major economies.
However, this phase is now over and the global economy looks poised to slow moderately from 3.8 percent in 2018 to 3.5 percent in 2019, led by deceleration in the US and further softening in China.
Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister, drew attention to various electoral pledges of the Awami League on unemployment, poverty, and climate change.
He said the government is working on reducing the non-performing loans, improving doing business index, customs modernisation and other issues to attract more investment from both local and foreign investors.
Shehzad Munim, president of the Foreign Investors’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said Bangladesh is now ideally poised for attracting foreign investments.
Prof Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue; Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of Brac; KM Hasan and Md Tafazzul Islam, former chief justices; Mohammed Farashuddin and Salehuddin Ahmed, former governors of the Bangladesh Bank; Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, and leaders of various trade bodies were present.
