Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury has received the United Nations Public Service Award-2020 on behalf of the Land Ministry.
The Ministry of Land is the first agency or organisation in Bangladesh to receive the UN Public Service Award, said a press release received on Monday.
Saifuzzaman received the award at the United Nations Public Service Awards Ceremony jointly organised by the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the Madinat Jumeirah Conference Center at 10:30 am local time on Monday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On the occasion, Land Secretary Md. Mustafizur Rahman was also present.
The e-Mutation system has been implemented under the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's special initiative 'Digital Bangladesh', said the land minister after receiving the award.
Saifuzzaman said the United Nations Public Service Award will encourage Bangladesh to more vivaciously carry out its initiative to automate the entire land management system.
e-Mutation is playing an important role in providing easy and efficient service to the land service recipients, making progress towards more inclusion of women and persons with disabilities in land management, implementing Sustainable Development Goals in Bangladesh and above all for implementing the Vision 2041 adopted by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The award ceremony is part of the United Nations Public Service Forum, a three-day event organised under the theme 'Innovating the Future Public Service: New Government Models for a New Era to Reach the Sustainable Development Goals' from December 13-15, 2021.
The UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of State for Government Development and Future Ohood Bint Khalfan Al Roumi, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance Catherine Pollard of Guyana and leaders across the world, ministers, senior government officials, civil society representatives, academia, the private sector and representatives from international and regional organisations and award winners attended the ceremony.
Earlier on June 16, 2020, the United Nations officially announced the winners of the United Nations Public Service Award-2020.
The Ministry of Land of Bangladesh won the prestigious 'United Nations Public Service Award-2020' in the 'Developing Transparent and Accountable Public Institutions' category.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin congratulated the winning countries including Bangladesh for winning the 'UN Public Service Award-2020' on June 23, 2020 at the United Nations Public Service Day Virtual Event.
'United Nations Public Service Forum' and 'Public Service Awards ceremony' were scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea in 2020, but were postponed by the United Nations in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The United Nations simultaneously organised the 2020 and 2021 United Nations Public Service Awards ceremony in Dubai.
The award was given for 17 initiatives of 15 countries for these two years.