Bangladesh has sought robust international cooperation to prevent illicit financial flows and ensure the return of looted assets, emphasising that these resources are crucial for national development and public welfare.
Delivering a statement at a special session on financial integrity of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury said the mass uprising of July 2024 had renewed public expectations for integrity, transparency, and accountability.
He noted that so-called “mega projects” often deliver very limited benefits to ordinary people while creating opportunities for corruption and enabling the transfer of public funds to secure offshore havens.
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Ambassador Chowdhury called for ensuring proper exchange of relevant information based on transparency, strengthening effective partnerships, and taking coordinated international action to recover these assets and return them to their rightful owners.
Referring to the outcomes of the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development held in Spain last June as historic, he stressed that political progress must be effectively implemented so that recovered funds can be used to strengthen educational institutions, hospitals, social protection systems, and the country’s internal economic capacity.