DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday called for a “multimodal connectivity” among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.
She made the call in her speech in the opening session of 18th SAARC Summit at City Hall of Rastriya Sabha Griha in Kathmandu, capital city of Nepal.
Thanking Maldives’ for its leadership she expected that the SAARC will attain greater heights under the leadership of Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who was selected as new chairman of SAARC till the 19th Summit.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh thinks “connectivity” in a wider context.
She said, “We need to focus on inter-regional trade”, can be benefited by sharing ideas, knowledge and technology.
Bangladesh premier also talked about cultural connectivity, people-to-people connectivity and road-rail-air connectivity. She also called for a “Railway Agreement’.
Hasina also called for a quality and need-based education for the development of human resources to eradicate poverty from the region.
She cited that the government has been providing monthly stipends among about 2.8 million students, 75 percent of whom are girls, in Bangladesh.
She further said Bangladesh has achieved gender parity in primary and secondary level of education.
She also said, “Sustainable development entails empowerment of women and their equal participation with men in all walks of life. In this context, Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in empowering women in social, economic and political arena. Pragmatic policies, resource allocation and strong commitment of our government are instrumental to this achievement.”
Hasina further said, “For achieving development faster, we must deepen our collective efforts to develop, use and apply science-technology-innovation at all levels. We need support in health, agriculture, food and climate change technologies. Bangladesh would call for deeper cooperation in these areas.”
She also said climate change poses serious challenge to much of Bangladesh’s development enterprise so much so that it “change may wipe out 2 to 3% of our (Bangladesh’s) annual GDP, including displacement of more than 30 million people by 2050”.
The Bangladesh premier said, “Optimum supply of energy remains fundamental to ensuring steady growth and sustainable development” and called for a commit on regional, sub-regional and bilateral initiatives for the development of energy sector in a comprehensive manner.
She further said “the new Global Development Agenda requires us to focus on our fourth frontier - the Indian Ocean” adding that “the ocean resources-based “Blue Economy” can play a critical role to sustainable development of the SAARC region”.
Te ensure food for all the people, she said, the SAARC countries should set up food and seed banks.
Click here to read her full speech
** SAARC Summit begins
** Hasina-Modi meeting at 3.30pm
BDST: 1135 HRS, NOV 26, 2014
