Development

by Juliane Bir on 20th November 2019 @jbir_ETUC Taking the EU directive on work-life balance off the page will require determined trade-union efforts, including in challenging prejudices. Read More »

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has encouraged the Bangladeshi expatriates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to send more remittance to Bangladesh through formal channel as the government is providing lucrative incentives to the remitters. Read More »

Nairobi, Nov 16 – “Child marriages must end and I am here at the Nairobi Summit to tell the world that it is wrong and must be stopped” Read More »

By Crystal Orderson We need to empower young people to sustain our planet, and let peace and prosperity thrive says UN’s Resident Co-ordinator in Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee speaks to IPS on reflections on the ICPD25 Summit. Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 15 2019 (IPS) – Q: At ICPD25 we heard that women and girls are still waiting for the unmet promises to ... Read More »

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said hunger has already been eradicated from the country and vowed afresh to make a poverty-free Bangladesh. Read More »

Dhaka, Nov 04 – Eti Akter from Kaliganj, Gazipur, won the contest of ‘SAPNA Ma Sera Dosh’. The first runner up is Fatema Akter from Lakshmipur Sadar and the second runner up is Razia Begum from Ramgoti. Special recognition for SAPNA Ma went to Nandita Mondol. Read More »

Beijing, Oct 26 (Xinhua/UNB) — The China Innovation Index, the barometer of the country’s innovation capability, rose at a faster pace in 2018, official data showed. Read More »

October 21, 2019 SANDRP – With work on NHPC Ltd’s 2,000-MW Lower Subansiri hydro power project restarting after a wait of almost eight years, anti-dam organisations led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) vowed to launch an intense resistance movement to stop further construction of the project. AASU, in a statement, alleged that ... Read More »

Dhaka, Oct 13 – Bangladesh has been ranked as the second fastest-growing economy in South Asia after Bhutan in the latest World Bank report on the economic situation. Read More »

ঢাকা থেকে ভাঙ্গা পর্যন্ত পদ্মা সেতু রেল সংযোগ নির্মানে ক্ষতিগ্রস্ত ছয় জেলার ৭৭০০ জনের মধ্যে ৩০৪১ জনকে পুনর্বাসন কার্যক্রমের আওতায় ইতোমধ্যে অতিরিক্ত অনুদান হিসাবে ৭৭ কোটি ৬৯ লক্ষ ৫০ হাজার টাকা প্রদান করা হয়েছে। বাকী ক্ষতিগ্রস্তদের সহায়তাও প্রক্রিয়াধীন রয়েছে। Read More »

Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation-ROSATOM emphasized on maximum harnessing the potential of nuclear technologies in order to implement the decisions of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and achieve sustainable development goals. He was addressing the plenary session of the 63rd Annual General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded in Vienna recently. ... Read More »

Geneva, Sep (Kanaga Raja) – A Global Green New Deal is needed to reverse the polarization of income within and across countries, create a stable financial system that serves the productive economy, mitigate the threats and seize the opportunities associated with new technologies, and undertake massive investments in clean energy, transportation and food systems. Read More »

By: Jennifer del Rosario-Malonzo 28 September 2019, New York City — Following a disappointing Climate Action Summit that yielded few commitments, despite science showing the need for urgent system change, and a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit acknowledging that the international community is off-track to achieve the SDGs in 10 years, the High-level Dialogue (HLD) on Financing for Development convened ... Read More »

By Rémy Rioux Paris – In a profoundly volatile world riddled with fractures, the temptation to embrace a seemingly reassuring path of withdrawal or isolation may be strong. In fact, avoidance of potential hazards seems only natural. For lack of a better alternative, we may be instinctively inclined to look inward in order to circumvent or at least mitigate the ... Read More »

New York, Sept 25 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the global leaders to live up to their commitments they made to protect the planet aiming to ensure the benefits of SDGs for the most marginalised people. Read More »

24 September 2019 SDGs – “The 2030 Agenda is coming to life”, declared the UN chief on Tuesday, referring to the blueprint for a healthier planet and a more just world, as he launched the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit in New York. However, despite encouraging progress, António Guterres warned that much more needs to be done, and “we ... Read More »

Dhaka, Sept 12 (UNB) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked the architects to design multistorey buildings in a planned way taking the movement of people and traffic in surrounding roads, open space and waste management into consideration. Read More »

by Frank Götmark, Robin Maynard Gothenburg/London – On September 24-25, world leaders will gather at the United Nations in New York to review progress toward the UN’s 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs, which aim “to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all,” are commendable, and summarize the kind of world many of ... Read More »

Dhaka, Sept 9 – Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday told parliament that road-construction cost in Bangladesh is higher than that of India and China due to the difference in soil conditions. Read More »

Dhaka, Sep 4 (UNB) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is going to provide funds for the upgradation of the country’s four highways into four-lane ones, said its country director Manmohan Parkash on Wednesday. The four highways — Dhaka-Sylhet, Rangpur-Banglabandha, Rangpur-Burimari and Faridpur-Barishal — will also have separate lanes for slow-moving vehicles. Manmohan said this when he met Road, Transport ... Read More »

Lei Lei Song Since 2014, South Asia has been the fastest-growing subregion in the world, with its eight economies collectively boasting average annual growth of 7.0%. This is higher even than East Asia (6.2%), which includes China; Southeast Asia (4.9%); and the Pacific (4.7%). To carry on this impressive performance beyond the next couple of years, though, will require reforms ... Read More »

Heavily polluted water is reducing economic growth by up to a third in some countries, a World Bank report said Tuesday, calling for action to address human and environmental harm. Read More »

By Thalif Deen UN, Aug 16 2019 (IPS) – The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) is convinced that the world’s 1.8 billion adolescents and youth– a quarter of the global population—have a key role to play in helping implement the UN’s 2030 Development Agenda. Read More »

By Manipadma Jena New Delhi, Aug 12 2019 (IPS) – “The Perfect Storm” was a dire prediction that by 2030 food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources together with climate change would threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration from worst-affected regions. Read More »

Rome, 8 August 2019 – More than 342,000 people in southeast Bangladesh living on coastal chars created by silt deposits will benefit from new financing for a project to reduce poverty and hunger and develop rural livelihoods. People living on chars are often hardest hit by climate change effects like sea-level rise as they often live in poorly constructed housing ... Read More »

by Alon Tal Tel Aviv – Electric bicycles and scooters are taking a lot of heat. Concerns about traffic fatalities, terrorized pedestrians, and urban lawlessness have led a growing chorus of politicians and media commentators to conclude that the technology should be banned outright. But these critics are missing the point. Small, portable, electric transportation options are a tremendous opportun ... Read More »

Public health engineering department (DPHE) has been implementing 14 water supply and sanitation improvement projects involving more than Taka 99.94 crore to provide safe drinking water to people here. Abujar Masudar Rahman, Superintending Engineer of DPHE, here told BSS that the projects are being implemented in different district headquarters and upazilas in almost all eight districts under the division aims ... Read More »

By Thalif Deen UN, Jul 19 2019 (IPS) – The United Nations, which has been tracking both the successes and failures of its highly-ambitious Agenda for Sustainable Development, has warned that “progress has been slow” in many of the 17 Goals after four years of implementation. Read More »

The world’s people are demanding “transformative change that is fair and sustainable,” Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, calling on government leaders to use the upcoming slate of key United Nations meetings in September to “kickstart a decade of delivery and action for people and planet.” Read More »

Dhaka, July 13 (UNB) – Speakers at a dialogue in New York said non-state actors including NGOs, think tanks, media and private sectors, in developing countries like Bangladesh, are playing a critical role in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read More »