Mr.
President,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
At the outset I would like to associate my delegation with the statement made
by H.E. the Minister of Labour of South Africa on behalf of the G-77 Chair.
It is a privilege to address this 2006 ECOSOC Session High Level Segment. I would
like to congratulate you, Mr. President, for bringing together an assembly of
some brilliant minds and visions at this session. It helps ECOSOC improve its
contribution to economic and social development.
Mr.
President,
My
delegation has listened with great interest to the keynote addresses yesterday,
and presentations that have articulated the urgency of the poverty challenge.
We endorse the views expressed. Poverty is indeed the mother of all ills; its
continued existence poses a clear and present danger to all our societies. The
malaise has to be addressed in all earnestness.
During the last fifteen years, Bangladesh has grown at a rate of around 5% a year.
We are projected to grow at more than 6% next year. Though this is robust growth,
it is not enough. Alongside sound macroeconomic performance, Bangladesh's success
in pursuing and implementing the MDGs has been widely praised. We have attained
the two MDG goals of gender-parity in primary school enrolment and access to safe
drinking water. We have also made significant strides in reducing infant mortality
rates and consumption poverty. This is reflected in the June 26 issue of Newsweek
International in its report on Bangladesh where the country was described as "one
of the world's most amazing turnarounds", adding that "Bangladesh is
the only South Asian country on track to meet its UN Millennium Development Goals
of reducing poverty by half by 2015". This recognition of the Government's
commitment to address poverty by one of the world's most reputed journals is indeed
encouraging.
Mr.
President,
According to the ILO, unemployment rate in South Asia stands at 4.7%. However,
this masks the reality of underemployment, or under utilization of labour. Agriculture
and the rural sector still remain the major sectors of employment for us. Employment
in the agricultural sector is seasonal, and for a significant part of the year,
agricultural workers need employment in other economic activities.
To address this problem, we need to create opportunities in other sectors, particularly
in manufacturing and services. The key to achieving this is through the growth
of the private business sector. We need to ensure that private sectors in our
countries can become competitive and have meaningful market access, thus helping
attain our development objectives.
Our
reliance on aid is falling rapidly, from nearly 7% of our GNP in early 1990s to
less than 2% in 2004. While there is continued need for assistance in capacity
building and infrastructure development, what we need most is trade and foreign
direct investment. Our investment policy is one of the best in our region. We
are confident that the policies we are pursuing for achieving full and productive
employment will succeed with the support from the international community.
Mr.
President,
The
Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Declaration and the follow up meetings leaves us less
than optimistic about the prospects of concluding a development-friendly trade
round. Currently, the LDCs, including Bangladesh, enjoy duty free access for its
exports to EU market under 'Everything But Arms' initiative. The U.S. offers restricted
duty free access to selected African and Caribbean countries under its AGOA and
CAFTA programs. These systems of preferences must be made more comprehensive,
more secure and predictable and easier to avail of. The Hong Kong Ministerial
takes the first attempt to multilateralize duty-free access for LDCs. The developed
countries agreed at Hong Kong to allow LDCs duty-free access for 97% of tariff
lines, but it may very well be that the 3% exclusion list will contain most of
the items that the LDCs are interested in. My delegation feels that full employment
and sustainable development will remain elusive for the LDCs if the Doha Round
concludes without ensuring unfettered market access for LDC products.
Mr.
President,
I
turn, next, to the issue of short-term movement of service providers, not just
for employment but also for its impact on economic development. Bangladeshis working
overseas remit over 4 billion dollars every year. Experts are emphatic that mobility
of labour makes economic sense: numerous studies have shown that labour mobility
can help improve economic efficiency in both source and recipient countries.
Labour mobility nevertheless faces stiff opposition in the receiving countries,
mostly in terms of stringent entry laws and political backlash. The key challenge
before us is to change our mindset, recognizing that organised labour mobility
benefits both the recipient and the source countries.
Labour
mobility is part of the trade debate in services. At Hong Kong, the LDCs expected
a breakthrough in the negotiation on mode IV - the movement of unskilled and semi-skilled
labour. Our collective efforts should focus on facilitating labour mobility on
terms acceptable to all.
Mr.
President,
Employment
generation is at the core of our development and poverty reduction strategy. The
Government's efforts have been focused almost entirely in addressing the issue.
Although still far from achieving the coveted goal of complete eradication of
poverty, our own national efforts have produced some positive results. We have
invested in developing human resources. With 140 million people in an area of
55,000 square miles, the challenge for the Government is formidable by any standard.
And yet, we do take pride that we are among the world's largest functioning democracies,
have attained self-sufficiency in food, reached a GDP growth of over 6% and now
calling for trade rather than aid.
Mr.
President,
Finally, my delegation reiterates the commitment of the Government to continue
our efforts for full and productive employment, work that is decent, and working
environments that enable workers to develop their potential. We also express our
interest to work with other members of the United Nations to fulfil the conditions
needed for sustainable development.
I
thank you, Mr. President.
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