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Policy reforms, boosting pvt investment recommended for sustainable dev


Published : 13 Dec 2019 08:47 PM | Updated : 03 Sep 2020 10:49 AM

Global experts recommended for mobilizing financing resources, Policy reforms, boosting private sector investment, framing up long-term action plan for ensuring inclusive financing and sustainable development in Asia Pacific region. They observed that access to the market, access to information, access to finance, and access to skills are extremely crucial for sustainable development which also needs ensuring new financing mechanisms, establishing more micro-credit mechanisms for financial inclusiveness and implementation of an effective bond marketing system.
The observations came up in the Asia-Pacific Conference on Financing Inclusive and Sustainable Development, which was held at the InterContinental Hotel in Dhaka from 10 to 12 December.
The conference was also held as ICC’s regional centenary celebration event in Asia and the Pacific, as well as on the occasion of ICC Bangladesh’s Silver Jubilee celebration. The conference aimed to explore a new financial landscape for Asia and the Pacific. It was attended by over 800 distinguished government officials and experts and representatives from the United Nations organizations, other international organizations, multilateral development banks, private sector associations and businesses, civil society organizations and eminent experts.
President of Bangladesh, Md. Abdul Hamid inaugurated the Conference while Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, Dr. AK Abdul Momen, Finance Minister A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister, Salman Fazlur Rahman; and the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Dr. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana participated in different sessions of the conference.
This Conference discussed various pressing issues on financing inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. The issues include, among others: innovative policy and regulatory frameworks for financing inclusive and sustainable development, capital market development and establishment of Bond market, financing infrastructure development and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), scaling up Private Sector investment, Trade Finance and Cross-border trade and investment promotion etc.
A joint declaration was made at the closing of the three-day Conference, that summarized some important discussions and key outcomes made during the past three days.
President of ICCB, Mahbubur Rahman red out a written declaration in the joint press conference, held at the concluding day on Thursday.
He mentioned that conference provided an innovative model at the regional level on how to enhance the Sustainable Development Goals 17: Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. Under the growingly interconnected world and region, the SDGs can only be realized with strong global and regional partnerships through both North-South and South-South cooperation.
The Conference enhanced the knowledge sharing and suggested many best practices among the participants. It also brought some new policies and innovative ways to cooperate effectively at the regional level to help the mobilization of financial resources to achieve the SDGs.
The Conference requested the development partners to continue supporting countries in Asia and the Pacific to enhance private investments, strengthen the banking sector and improve SMEs’ access to finance.
The Conference requested the development partners to provide assistance to the countries in the region to enhance financial flows through new and innovative financial modalities, such as climate, green and blue bonds, capital market development, PPPs, blended finance, FinTech, supply chain finance and digitalized remittance.
The panel of speakers in separate sessions also stressed ase of information availability and transparency to attract FDI, improving logistic and transport system to ensure efficient financing, special emphasis would need to be put on Fintech, women empowerment in order to flourish MSMEs and Developing Public-Private Partnership
The Conference reiterated the need and importance of regional cooperation to strengthen the financial systems in Asia and the Pacific and requested all the development partners to enhance regional cooperation through various channels.
The Conference further encouraged the development partners to enhance multi-stakeholder dialogues and partnerships through continuously organizing forums, seminars and workshops at the regional level.
Dr. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Bun Chanthy, Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia, Dr. Puspa Raj Kadel, Vice-Chairman, National Planning Commission, Nepal, Manmohan Prakash, Country Director, Bangladesh Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Shazali Sulaiman, Chairman, the Brunei Darussalam International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Quinlan Carthane, Chief of Staff, International Chamber of Commerce, Dinesh Weerakkody, Chairman, ICC Sri Lanka, Zabihullah Ziarmal, First Vice Chairman of ICC Afghanistan, Dr. Paul Fisher, Chair, The London Bullion Market Association, Dasho Penjore, Governor, Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Senior Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, took part in the conference among others.