PM made member of UN panel

Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been named in a high-level panel of the United Nations.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim on Thursday announced the appointment of 10 heads of state and government, as well as two special advisors, to the High-Level Panel on Water, reports UN News.

The panel, which was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January, aims to mobilise effective action to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), which focuses on ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, at a time of unprecedented challenges.

The newly appointed panel members are Ameenah Gurib, president of Mauritius (co-chair), Enrique Peña Nieto, president of Mexico (co-chair), Malcolm Turnbull, prime minister of Australia, Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh, János Áder, president of Hungary, Abdullah Ensour, prime

minister of Jordan, Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa, Macky Sall, president of Senegal, Emomali Rahmon, president of Tajikistan, Han Seung-soo, former prime minister of the Republic of Korea (Special Advisor), and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, minister of state for the Environment of Peru (special advisor).

“Ensuring water and sanitation for all is crucial for reducing poverty and achieving other Sustainable Development Goals,” Ban Ki-moon was quoted to have said in a statement issued by his spokesperson, through which he urged all partners to mobilise behind SDG 6 with political, financial and technological support.

“Growing cities and populations, as well as a changing climate, are placing unprecedented pressures on our water resources,” Kim added.

Source: Prothom Alo