United Nations (UN)

It has been over 40 years since Bangladesh's flag was first raised at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, beginning a proud era of partnership built on mutual trust. Since this beginning, Bangladesh has been an active member of the global community. Perhaps due to its own history of conflict, just 17 years after the country's independence, the first Bangladeshi troops served in the United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group (UNIMOG) in 1988. All in all, the country has participated in 18 Peacekeeping missions, with almost 8,700 peacekeepers deployed since UNIMOG, including important contributions such as the first all-women's police force in Haiti. The commitment of Bangladesh to protect peace is underpinned by the UN principles of equality, tolerance, freedom, peace and non-violence, principles which are also enshrined in the country's Constitution. All of which serve as a reminder of the ethos of the UN and Bangladesh partnership.
Over the last 40 years, UN and Bangladesh partnership has contributed to the 30 per cent increase of Bangladesh's real per-capita income, and within this period the poverty rate reduced by 60 per cent. This has been encouraged by targeted investment in social programmes and the progressive policies of governments, which have also positioned Bangladesh to be on track to achieve 15 out of 34 of the relevant targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As Bangladesh moved up the development ladder, UN assistance also started focusing on knowledge brokering, advocacy and technical assistance, recognising that sustainable development is closely linked to strong structures, systems and human capital. The interventions highlighted in this interactive timeline commemorating 40 years of partnership are not exhaustive, but are rather meant to illustrate key milestone achievements of UN and Bangladesh partnership. They have had a nation-wide impact on the overall development gains in the last 40 years, and many of which started long before the MDGs were introduced.