Sustainable development goals and Bangladesh: The role of parliament

Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies among the countries with similar nature. The country has made a notable progress during the MDG era despite several political and environmental challenges. At the end of MDG a new era has just begun with much more diversified targets called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG is a transformative, universal agenda with an overarching imperative of ‘leaving no one behind’ and requires each country to commit to her own agenda and priorities with a monitoring and reporting mechanism. At the same time the SDG also puts massive challenges to all countries to ensure financing and effective implementation by incorporating SDG in to the national policies. This document tries to identify what important role Bangladesh Parliament, as the supreme law making and oversight body of the executives, can play to i) identify national priorities for the country and ii) ensure effective monitoring and implementation of these global targets. The SDG has just begun as well as many analysis and activities of the world community. At the beginning of the process each country and its oversight body has some role to play. This document tries to identify those initial priorities that in Bangladesh the Parliament should take at the soonest.