PM Hasina urges leaders, policymakers to work together for peaceful South Asia

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina today urged the political leaders and policymakers of South Asia to work in unison, saying fate of the people of this region can easily be possible to improve utilizing the endowed resources through mutual cooperation, reports BSS.

“We can easily improve the fate of the people of South Asia by utilising the resources we have been endowed through exhibiting mutual cooperation,” she said.

While addressing the auspicious moment of celebrating the birth centenary of Father of the Nation and Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s Independence, Sheikh Hasina said “I called upon the political leaders and policymakers of South Asia to work hand in hand to build a peaceful and prosperous South Asia.”

Pointing out that the people of this region possess unbelievable spirit, innovation, and the ability to survive against natural disasters, she said “If we work together for the betterment of our people, South Asia will surely be flourished as one of the most prosperous regions in the world.”

Sheikh Hasina, who chaired the function, noted South Asia is home to about a quarter of the world population and said as much as there are challenges, there are a lot of possibilities as well in this region.

Bhutanese prime minister Lotay Tshering joined as the guest of honor on the 8th day programmes of the 10-day grand celebrations of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee of independence at the National Parade Square here this afternoon.

At the ceremony, video messages of Pope Francis and Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi were screened. The Bhutanese prime minister became the fourth among the world leaders to attend the celebrations.

To mark the 50 years of diplomatic relations between Bhutan and Bangladesh, Lotay Tshering handed over commemorative postage stamps to prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The prime minister said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib not only fought for the political and economic freedom of the people of Bangladesh, rather he dreamed of the emancipation of all the oppressed and deprived fraction of people in the world.

“He (Bangabandhu) was respectful to the peaceful co-existence and regional integrity, and he believed that any problem could be solved through mutual cooperation,” she said.

Referring to the final recommendation that Bangladesh has already received to shift from a Least Developed Country to developing country status, Sheikh Hasina said “In Bangladesh, we are working relentlessly to establish the hunger-poverty-free non-communal ‘Golden Bangladesh’ of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib.”

She expressed her optimism that Bangladesh will be a higher-middle income country by 2031 and a developed and prosperous country by 2041.

Mentioning Bhutan as a very close neighbor and friendly-country, she said cooperation between Bangladesh and Bhutan in the fields of trade, commerce, communication, tourism, education, etc. is continuously growing.

Apart from the geographical proximity, Sheikh Hasina said, both the countries have almost identical history and tradition. “Our position on various international and regional issues is characterised by uniqueness and similarity in all aspects,” she said.

Acknowledging the great support of the late third King of Bhutan Jigme Dorji Wangchuck and the Bhutanese people to Bangladesh’s great liberation war in 1971, the premier said they not only supported the freedom-loving Bengalis but also extended necessary help as much as they could.

The Bhutanese youth volunteered in various refugee camps in India to serve injured and sick Bengali refugees, she added.

She said Bhutan is the first among all countries to recognise independent Bangladesh and the country formally recognised Bangladesh on the 6th of December before achieving the final victory on 16 December 1971.

“We gratefully recollect the contribution of the people of Bhutan. We awarded Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, the third King of Bhutan, with the ‘Bangladesh Liberation War’ accolade in 2012 for his outstanding contribution to the great liberation war of Bangladesh,” she said.