Bangladesh will continue promoting Culture of Peace: HPM Sheikh Hasina at UNGA General Debate

Terming the UN a unique platform to do so, she said, "Let us renew our resolve to create an organization of enduring relevance," while addressing the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly at UN headquarters here on Wednesday evening.

"We are all gathered here to serve our 'One Humanity'. Let us work through our differences, and find common grounds to make pragmatic changes we wish to see in the world around us," she said.

In our globalized world, there are challenges. But, there are also potential opportunities and benefits for all, only if we know how to manage it right," Sheikh Hasina said.

Reiterating Bangladesh's firm commitment to global peace, she said, "Bangladesh will carry on promoting a Culture of Peace at the heart of the UN's agenda."

She quoted from the speech of Bangladesh's Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman given at UN General Assembly in 1974 when Bangabandhu said, "Bangladesh's total commitment to peace was born of the realization that only an environment of peace would enable us to mobilize and concentrate all our energies and resources in combating the scourges of poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and unemployment."

Like previous years Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered her speech in Bangla following Father of the Nation who had given speech in the UNGA in his mother language as the founder President of the newborn country in 1974.

"We shall uphold our contribution to peacekeeping and peace building. Our decision to set up a Peace Building Centre in Dhaka will allow us to share our experiences with other countries emerging from conflicts," Sheikh Hasina said.

In this regard, the Prime Minister pointed out her government's firm stance to ensure accountability and justice, saying Bangladesh will remain vocal about recognizing the role of national judicial processes in ensuring accountability and justice for mass atrocities.

In her 19-minute speech, the Prime Minister highlighted Bangladesh socioeconomic development, current political situation, government's stride to combat terrorism and militancy as well Bangladesh's total commitment for global peace, people's empowerment particularly of women and build a hunger- and poverty-free nation.

President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister of Romania Dacian Julien Ciolo?, Prime Minister Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull took part, among others, in the discussion in this evening session.

The Prime Minister said terrorism and violent extremism have emerged as major global challenges of present time, saying these menaces sweeping across borders and no country seems immune, no individual is beyond their target.

Pointing out indiscriminate killing of innocent people everywhere from the USA to Europe, Africa to Asia, the Prime Minister said the terrorists have no religion, caste or creed.

"We must unite in our resolve to defeat and degrade them in all forms and manifestations. We have to identify the root causes of terrorism and violent extremism," she said. At the same time, we have to find out the mentors, masterminds, abettors, financiers, arms suppliers and trainers of the terrorists and extremists, and take strong action against them, she said.

Highlighting terror threats on Bangladesh and her own life, Sheikh Hasina said her government is approaching with "zero tolerance" policy to terrorism and violent extremism as she is a victim of terrorist attacks.

"Our Government did succeed in disintegrating the homegrown terrorist groups, plugging their regular financing pipelines, and flushing out the regional operatives from our territory," she said.

With the vicious rise of certain international terrorist entities, it appears some of the local fringe elements have drawn inspiration and managed to regroup and rebrand them, she pointed out.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh is a unique country of religious harmony. But the country has experienced a grisly attack on 1 July 2016 when homegrown terrorists killed 20 people at a Dhaka restaurant though we were able to rescue 13 hostages unhurt.

The horrific incident imprinted a deep scar on the hearts of Bangladeshi people and Bangladesh is now in battle with this new wave of terrorism, she said.

In the wake of new challenges, Sheikh Hasina said her government has undertaken massive programmes to awaken people against radicalization and stand against militancy and extremism.

"I have called for whole of society response and got unprecedented response," she said, adding, "our women, youths, families and communities can be our vanguards in offsetting extremism and radicalization."

"I am confident, with our people's resilience and support; we will make sure terrorists will have no place in our soil," the Prime Minister confidently said.

At the same time, she urged the world community to plug the sources of fund, arms and ammunition as well as moral and material support for the militants and terrorists across the borders.

Sheikh Hasina underlined Bangladesh's socioeconomic progress over the years, saying the country has mobilized and concentrated all energies and resources in combating the scourges of poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and unemployment. The end of these scourges is now in sight, she said.

Against the backdrop of ongoing violent conflict and cross-border migration particularly in Iraq and Syria, the Prime Minister said perceptions and realities of human mobility should be redefined. Migrants and refugees must be seen as potential change agents in both their places of origin and destination, she said.

Bangladesh is looking forward to a constructive dialogue on all related issues at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) that we are hosting in December this year, she said.

Pointing out the last year's adoption of a transformative development agenda with a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Sheikh Hasina said political will behind the agenda needs to be translated into concrete and meaningful support for countries that are lagging behind.

She called for fulfilling the internationally agreed development commitments for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to pave the way for their graduation to upper grade. The Technology Bank for LDCs should be geared at promoting innovation and predictable resource flow, she said.

In Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said the government has already mainstreamed most SDGs into the national development plans. A platform under the supervision of Prime Minister has been created to coordinate and monitor the work, she said, adding that consultations are going on with the local governments, civil society, media and academia.

These are in tandem with our "Vision-2021" and "Vision-2041" towards realizing our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's dream of building a hunger, poverty, illiteracy and exploitation-free "Sonar Bangladesh" - the Golden Bangladesh, she said.

Pointing out her government's aim to build an inclusive, empowered, digital and knowledge-based society, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh government is focusing on innovative public service delivery, mass access to information, and enhanced transparency and accountability.

She said the government has set up about 10,000 digital centres across the country in order to cater 200 different services to the people's doorsteps. Health services through mobile phones and a 24-hour web-portal are complementing the work of 16,438 community and local health clinics while digital lab and multimedia classrooms are operating in growing number of educational institutions.

She proposed extending this connectivity to every citizen of the world, from the Sub-Saharan region of Africa to the depth of the Amazon Rain Forest to the frozen lands of Siberia by 2030.

Broadband connectivity is a key enabler of economic development of Bangladesh as the government is committed to provide voice and data connection to every citizen of Bangladesh by 2021, she said.

"Though this is a formidable task and need large amount of technical and financial resources, I would ask the world leaders to take up this challenge and make a collaborative effort to connect the unconnected and achieve the sustainable development goals for all," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh's strategic location has made the country as an emerging hub for regional connectivity, foreign investments and global outsourcing. As well, the government has embarked on large-scale infrastructure projects to match our development aspirations.

Multimodal transport networks are being built to promote trade and people-to-people contacts among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN). The work of the 6.15 km long Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge has been commissioned with our own resources, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said discussions are underway to build a deep seaport, while our third seaport in Paira has commenced operations. Work on the metro rail in capital Dhaka city is also underway. One hundred Economic Zones (EZs) are being developed across the country to allow potential investors to invest in Bangladesh.

Such forward-looking thrust in our progress is supported by impressive performance of our macro- and socioeconomic indicators. In 2015-2016 fiscal year, our economy posted a GDP growth rate higher than 7%, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has experienced one of the fastest poverty reduction rates in the world with a modest resource base. We have brought down poverty from 56.7% in 1991 to 22.4% today.

Bangladesh has already graduated from the UNDP's low human development category to medium, and also the World Bank's lower-middle income status, she said.

Despite global recession, she said, our export earnings grew by more than three times to USD 34.24 billion; remittance flow increased nearly three times; and, foreign currency reserves jumped by 8.5 times from US$ 3.5 billion to over US$ 31 billion over the last seven years.

Sheikh Hasina said her government has given focus on addressing inequality through social security, decent work and financial inclusion as a key to the development strategy. The government has allocated over 13 per cent of the national budget to social safety net spending, which is 2.3 per cent of the total GDP, she said

Pointing out the looming threat of climate change to Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said climate change has threatened Bangladesh's many of development gains.

The landmark Paris Climate Agreement recognizes the importance of adaptation, loss and damage, and climate justice. Bangladesh cabinet has ratified the agreement, she said. Large carbon emitting countries would ratify the Agreement soon, she hoped.

Laying importance on empowerment of women, the Prime Minister said sustainable development would simply not be tenable without women's participation.

In Bangladesh, she said, a host of measures, including promoting girls' education, undertaken half a decade ago started yielding dividends. Women in Bangladesh are now increasingly becoming an integral part of our development endeavours, she said.

The Prime Minster congratulated Peter Thomson as the President of the 71st session of the General Assembly and commended his predecessor Mogens Lykketoft for his dynamic role.

The Prime Minister also recalled the contribution of outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many meetings and conversations on a host of issues of importance with him over the years terming Ban a true and trusted friend of Bangladesh.

"Ban recognized Bangladesh's development gains as 'role model' for the rest of the world. Sheikh Hasina wished outgoing secretary general and Madame Ban continued success and good health.