"I would like to request all the global leaders to stick to our commitments that we had made for the planet and people. I’m sure together we can bring the benefits of the SDGs to most marginalised people, often at the bottom of society," she said.
The Prime Minister made the call while jointly moderating the Leader's Dialogue on 'Localising the SDGs' at the high-level political forum on sustainable development (SDG Summit) at Trusteeship Council of the UN Headquarters.
Sheikh Hasina said she is confident that the exchange of ideas would enhance the understanding of development journey. "It’ll also assist us in replicating the best practices with our own context."
She said localising SDGs also to empower the only process to empower all local stakeholders at all levels. "It aims to make sustainable development more responsive and relevant to local needs and aspirations. Meaningful partnership and cooperation are equally essential, both at the local and global level," she said.
The PM mentioned that SDG localisation is the process of implementing and monitoring strategies at the very local level reflecting different challenges and opportunities.
"Localisation helps transforms goals into local realities and aspirations. It motivates as individuals well as promote an integrated, inclusive and sustainable approaches for implementation," she said.
About Bangladesh, she said learning from the experiences of MDGs, Bangladesh has integrated the goals of the SDGs into our 7th Five Year Plan and again incorporating those in our upcoming 8th Five Year Plan for 2021-2025.
“We’ve adopted the ‘whole of society’ approach in SDGs implementation by involving various stakeholders, particularly those who are at the bottom. We’ve identified their respective responsibilities and tasks for the government offices, Hasina added.
"They’ve been implementing respective ‘Action Plans’ in a coordinated manner. We’ve also created an innovative monitoring framework for which we’ve launched an online “SDG tracker” to monitor progress in real time," she said.
The PM said the government also created ‘National Data Coordination Committee’ to expedite authentic data collection process and its utilisations.
"We’ve been trying to mobilise resources and realise innovative financing involving the private sector and responsive civil society. However, like other developing countries, we need enhanced support from multilateral and bilateral development partners," she said.
In order to effectively localise SDGs at the district and sub-district levels, she said, the government has selected 40 priority indicators. Out of these, 39 are chosen from 17 goals, and the remaining one is chosen by the local administrative unit based on their local realities and urgency following the principle of leaving no one behind.
Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Gabriela Cuevas Barron, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Tri Rismaharini, Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia, also spoke at the event.
Principal Coordinator on the SDG Affairs at the Prime Minister's Office Md Abul Kalam Azad was present at the podium. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque joined the event.