A three-day national level conference has been held in the capital to take stock of the country’s state in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.

Held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre from May 16-18, 2022, the "Second National Conference on SDGs Implementation Review (SIR) 2022" was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the Chief Guest. Planning Minister MA Mannan MP chaired the inauguration.

The Prime Minister unveiled the ‘‘Revised Mapping of Ministries/Divisions and Custodian/Partner Agencies for SDG Implementation in Bangladesh” which was developed by the planning ministry with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s SC4SDG project.

The document reassigns the roles and responsibilities of the ministries/divisions as well as included custodian/partner agencies’ roles and data sources by global SDG indicators along with the lead, co-lead, and associate ministries/divisions.

The conference was participated by representatives of 43 lead ministries/divisions who presented their progress on SDGs implementation. 

In the plenary session, UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative Sudipto Mukherjee presented the donors’ perspectives on SDGs. Considering Bangladesh’s graduation from LDC and the new era of trade, recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic and impact of international conflicts, and changing global political scenarios, Mr. Mukherjee recommended four critical areas of intervention: (i) Poverty reduction, food security, and economic growth; (ii) Climate Change, Resilient Environment, and Urbanization; (iii) Participatory and Inclusive Governance, Rule of Law, Human Rights and (iv) Human Development and “Leaving No One Behind.”

The SC4SDG team provided technical assistance in organizing this high-level national conference to the Planning Commission’s General Economics Division. The Prime Minister’s Office’s Governance Innovation Unit (GIU) was also an organizing partner.

The State Minister of Planning also attended the inaugural session as Special Guest. Aside, the Principal Coordinator (SDG Affairs), Prime Minister’s Office, and UNRCO spoke at the inaugural session.