Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3 August 2022 – Yesterday, the UNFPA Country Representative in Bangladesh, Ms. Kristine Blokhus, met with the Honourable Minister of Planning, Mr. Muhammed Abdul Mannan. The discussion, which was held at the Minister’s office in Dhaka, marked the first time that Ms. Blokhus has met with the Honourable Minister since beginning her assignment as the UNFPA Representative in June 2022.
During the meeting, the Honourable Minister thanked Ms. Blokhus for the critical support that UNFPA provided to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to successfully conduct its first-ever digital Housing and Population Census this year. The preliminary findings of the census have now been disseminated and the Honourable Minister encouraged UNFPA to analyze the data and produce policy papers based on it.
Furthermore, despite the global disruptions caused by COVID-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Planning Minister hoped that Bangladesh would be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in time. Ms. Blokhus reiterated UNFPA’s desire to keep working with the Bangladesh Government to accelerate both the implementation of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the ICPD Programme of Action.
Furthermore, Ms. Blokhus expressed her gratitude to the Honourable Minister for the inclusion of the ICPD agenda in the Government’s 8th Five Year Plan. With regards to this, the Honourable Minister requested UNFPA to strengthen its support to the General Economics Division (GED) for the effective implementation of these aspects of the 8th Five Year Plan.
