Bangladeshi PM calls for global solidarity to tackle economic crisis driven by war, COVID-19

A food and energy crisis driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war is making things difficult, the PM says at the D-8 conference.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for strengthened multilateral cooperation and global solidarity among the D-8 member states to ward off the economic crisis driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

The prime minister made the call via video conferencing from the Ganabhaban after joining the celebration of the silver jubilee anniversary of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and the inauguration of the alliance’s 20th ministerial conference in Dhaka on Wednesday.

“As the world is passing through a difficult time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, food and energy crisis, climate change and natural disasters, the need for strengthened multilateral cooperation and global solidarity deserves more attention than ever,” Hasina said.

She cited measures taken by her government to mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the country’s economy and revive it to its desired growth trajectory.

“So far, we have announced 28 stimulus packages equivalent to $23 billion, which is 6.3 percent of our GDP. A total of 67.4 million people and 118,000 business entities have benefited from these packages.”

“Bangladesh is one of the very few countries which has successfully vaccinated its targeted population against COVID-19. Bangladesh has ranked fifth out of 121 countries and the first among the South Asian countries in the COVID-19 recovery index,” she said.

The prime minister said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has pushed the world into fresh danger while countries like Bangladesh were reeling from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Agencies