The three-day Asia Workshop concluded here Tuesday with ‘Recommendations from Asia-Pacific’ that call for deepening of the MDGs in the remaining two years to address a set of issues, including slow progress in global partnership on overseas development assistance.
The recommendations of the ‘Asia Workshop on the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation: Links to the Post-2015
Development Agenda’ acknowledged the requirement for deepening of the
MDGs in the issues of non-income inequalities, the need for quality education outcomes, youth unemployment and vulnerabilities, gender inequality and social exclusion, health and environment risks, conflict and fragility, governance, trade, technology and affordable medicines.
The recommendations of the workshop were disclosed by finance minister AMA Muhith at a press conference at a city hotel.
Cabinet secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, economic relations division secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad and ERD additional secretary Arastoo Khan were, among others, present on the occasion.
ERD officials said that the workshop was important to generate common standpoints from the Asian region on development cooperation ahead of the first Global Partnership Ministerial Meeting to be held in 2014 in Mexico.
Addressing the press conference, the finance minister said the worldwide MDG programme had been successful in many aspects although there were some countries which might not be able to achieve some of the MDG targets.
But, he hoped that all the countries concerned will be able to achieve the MDG goals by 2017.
Muhith mentioned that work was going on for chalking out the Post-MDG programme.
Some 28 government development and economic cooperation policymakers and practitioners of 12 countries from the Asia-Pacific and civil society organisations from this region also anticipated that aid and other development financing would remain important part of the efforts to reach MDGs targets and ensuring stronger links between the uses of country generated revenue and development partners’ funding remain critical till 2015 and beyond.
The workshop also made recommendations on three broad-based strategies at the country level and will actively seek regional cooperation in a practical and feasible way.
The three strategies are —strengthening and operationalising country-led results and accountability frameworks and multi-stakeholders’ platforms to assess performance; placement of ODA in a broader development finance landscape for financing development priorities including MDGs and Post-2015 development agenda; and upscaling successful South-south cooperation and triangular cooperation from the region including Asian approaches to knowledge sharing platforms on development.
For implementing the recommended strategies, the Asia Workshop also suggested to strengthen multi-stakeholder results and accountability frameworks, design and outline the performance framework for development cooperation providers, strengthen participation and dialogue and share knowledge with parliamentarians, private sector and development partners.
The strategies also include developing medium term comprehensive development financing strategies beyond 2015 and develop country-led development finance and aid policies, encourage the emerging development partners like the BRICS grouping to enhance their engagement in development financing and cooperation in line with their growth and prosperity.
Besides, the workshop also proposed some initial stock-taking measures to track the implementation of the recommended strategies that include a consolidation of the evidence and perspectives from the Asia-Pacific region ahead of the First Ministerial to be hosted by Mexico in April 2014 and periodic online knowledge-sharing conferences and events and the use of social networking to discuss challenges and exchange solutions.