In a virtual meeting, leaders of Commonwealth countries have appreciated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s $11.50 billion financial and social safety-net support packages for the most vulnerable segments of the society including the RMG and daily workers and her ‘GovTech’ and ‘DevTech’ initiatives.
Bangladesh High Commissioner in London Saida Muna Tasneem represented the prime minister at the virtual Commonwealth Leaders meeting on the COVID-19 crisis.
Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of 30 Commonwealth member countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Belize, Bahamas, Uganda, Tanzania, Guyana, and the Gambia joined, the High Commission said on Saturday.
The High Commissioner highlighted the government’s initiatives and said Bangladesh is delivering public health services and humanitarian emergency aid to the people's doorstep, utilizing ‘GovTech’ and ‘DevTech’ under the prime minister’s ‘Digital Bangladesh’ vision''.
She briefed the Commonwealth leaders about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's post-covid innovative digitization initiatives in public services including 333-digital helpline for emergency health support, and Muktopaath (an internationally award-winning open e-Learning program) for training doctors.
Food for Nation App to ensure emergency supply chains, EkShop App (e-commerce platform) for connecting farmers with consumers, ‘2-minute’ online bank account from home, digital wallets for payments of wages, Bangladesh Post Office Digital Financial transaction “Nagad” and various other digital services were also introduced during Covid-19 emergency.
Echoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 6 priorities of global action to combat Covid-19 at the World Economic Forum’s Covid Response Dialogue, High Commissioner Tasneem called upon the Commonwealth leaders to become the collective and common voice of the most vulnerable countries including the LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and countries with special needs during the post-Covid global socio-economic recovery initiatives.
She called for assurances that LDCs meeting the graduation thresholds would continue to receive all flexibilities including sustained GSP facilities.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General acknowledged Bangladesh’s early warning system and disaster preparedness including quick evacuation of 2.5 million people from the coastal area during Cyclone Amphan, the High Commission said.
