Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday called for strong political commitment and global solidarity to face the challenges caused by the Ukraine war and other overlapping crises.

“.... no single country can tackle these challenges alone by itself. At this moment, what we need the most is strong political commitment and global solidarity,” she said.

The prime minister said this in a statement at a Roundtable convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres together with the GCRG (Global Crisis Response Group) Champions here in New York.

She said the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine and other overlapping crises have left deep scars in the societies and economies, especially in developing countries. 

“This has added many new challenges to our COVID recovery efforts, and SDGs implementation process,” she said.

She thanked the UN Secretary General for mobilizing the UN system to respond to the crises. 

In this regard, she commended the work of the GCRG steering committee. 

The premier mentioned that the three policy briefs produced before the roundtable provided important policy directions, and all stand ready to work with other partners to advance the right policy options to emerge out of these crises.

Talking about Bangladesh, she said the government has taken concrete fiscal and monetary measures to ensure macro-economic stability and control inflation. 

“Our social-safety-net programs have been expanded manifold. There is targeted support for agriculture, MSMEs, and other vulnerable sectors,” she said.

She also mentioned that the government has also adopted specific plans to increase the share of the renewables in the country’s energy mix. 

Hasina shared six specific thoughts to face the challenges of the present crises.

First, she said, "we need to address the volatility of the global financial and economic outlook."

The G-7, G-20, OECD, IFIs, MDBs should now scale up efforts to address the immediate concerns, she added.

“These include lack of SDGs financing, limited fiscal space, declining ODA, and debt servicing," she said.

Second, Sheikh Hasina commended the Secretary General for his pivotal role in the Black Sea Grain initiative. 

“We commit to support any such future initiatives for keeping food production and delivery system out of the harm’s way during conflicts," she said.

“Third, we need bold and comprehensive measures to revitalize global trade. It is imperative to ensure fair share of low and middle-income countries in global trade and export earnings.”

Fourth, she said, there should be increased investments in the agriculture sector of the developing countries to enhance productivity, and for effective food storage and distribution systems. 

“We need more G2G and B2B collaboration for creating new business opportunities, targeted technology support, enhanced ODA, and concessional financing," the PM added.

Fifth, she said, "We need to make the global architecture for climate cooperation more effective and just."

“We should seize the opportunity of the upcoming COP-27 to address the concerns of the most vulnerable countries. We wish to work with our partners for creating necessary impetus for addressing energy security issue in a comprehensive manner.”

Finally, Sheikh Hasina said, "We do need to find ways and means to bring an amicable end to this blood-soaked disastrous crises."  

The sanctions and countersanctions are deeply hurting people around the globe, more so, those in the countries at direct conflict, and those in developing and least developed world, she observed.

Also read: Bring more women in decision-making leadership for a crisis-free world: PM Hasina