Finance minister stresses coordinated global programme to recover from Covid-19 crisis
He said G-7, G-20, OECD and international financial institutions also have an important role in this difficult journey
Taking up a well coordinated global programme is necessary to recover from the Covid-19 crisis, and the United Nations (UN) can play a pioneering role in this regard, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.
He further said G-7, G-20, OECD and international financial institutions also have an important role in this difficult journey.
The finance minister made this statement while attending a virtual meeting of finance ministers organised by the UN on Tuesday.
The meeting's aim was to discuss a single menu of policy options to address the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and to prepare a stable and sustainable global financial architecture.
The meeting on "Financing for Development in the Era of Covid-19 and Beyond" was the initiative of the UN secretary-general and the prime ministers of Jamaica and Canada, launched on May 28.
The platform took an initiative to create six discussion groups based on international financing and remittance, employment and inclusive growth, sustainable recovery, global financial liquidity and stability, loan risk, inclusion of non-government lenders, and illicit financial flow in different regions.
Since then, different groups have been working to present "a single ambitious menu of policy options," considering the needs of the member countries and other stakeholders.
Rabab Fatima, permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, assumed a position of the co-leader of the "Group A" and discussed issues like foreign currency and remittance, jobs, and inclusive growth with representatives of Egypt, Japan and Spain.
She played an important role in this group to ensure inclusion of the priorities of the developing and most risky countries.
The finance minister said, "We consider it very important that developed countries have fulfilled their promise of providing 0.7% of their gross national income as ODA (official development assistance), which is helping now to recover from the Covid-19 crisis."
Finance ministers from more than 60 member countries of the UN, different agencies of the UN, and representatives of the multilateral financial institutions participated in the meeting.