Rajapaksa at the Mujib Chirantan venue

The third day of the Mujib Chirantan (Mujib Eternal) festivities to commemorate Bangladesh golden jubilee of independence and Bangabandhu's birthday, have kicked off in the presence of Sri Lanka's prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The visiting Sri Lankan prime minister arrived at the national parade ground at 4:30pm Friday afternoon. He was received by prime minister Sheikh Hasina and they took their seats on the stage.

The event began with a sign language rendition of the national anthem. This was followed by recitations from the Qur'an, the Geeta, Tripitak and the Bible. A video message of the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was screened at the event.

Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam delivered at key note on the occasion. Also speaking at the event was state minister for cultural affairs KM Khalid. Nobonita Chowdhury conducted the third day's programme entitled 'Jotokal Robe Padma Jamuna'.

Rajapakse arrived in Dhaka Friday morning. He had tweeted his hopes for strengthening bilateral ties with Bangladesh. Before attending the event, he laid flowers at the Jatiya Smriti Soudha (National mausoleum) to pay respects to the martyrs of the liberation war.

The 10-day programme commemorating Bangabandhu's birthday and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence began on 17 March and will continue till 26 March. Maldives president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was the guest on the first day. Nepal's president Bidya Devi Bhandari will arrive in Dhaka in 22 March to join the celebrations. Bhutan's prime minister Lotay Tshering will arrive on 24 March. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will join the closing event on 26 March.