foreign-affairs
Mauritius praises Bangladesh’s socio-economic transformation
Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius Louis Steven Obeegadoo has described Bangladesh as a shining example of development and noted “miraculous progress” that Bangladesh achieved in the socio-economic sector over the last one decade.
Obeegadoo praised Bangladesh and its growth when Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Masud Bin Momen paid a courtesy call on the Deputy Prime Minister at his office in Port Louis, Mauritius on Tuesday.
Read: Bangladesh, Mauritius eye Minister-level visits; see vast potential
The Deputy Prime Minister commented that the people of his generation get inspiration from Bangladesh's Liberation War.
He expressed satisfaction at the way Bangladesh handled the Covid-19 situation to protect its people and bring back the economy on the right track.
Mujib: Bangladesh’s first graphic novel on real life super hero hits book fair
In a world gripped by a growing craze for graphic novels, Bangladesh has presented its own based not on imaginary characters but a real-life hero.
The Mujib Graphic novel, depicting Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's life in ten instalments, is Bangladesh's answer to the American DC comics and the Japanese Manga.
The country's millennial can now do without the Demon Slayer or Watch the Titans.
They can enjoy the amazing story of a boy from a rural outback rise like a Titan to slay the demon - the Pakistani military junta, said a press release.
Read: Fair-weather fans unwelcome: Radwan Mujib
Bangladesh reiterates call to Canada for deportation of killer Nur Chy
Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Lilly Nicholls has said she will convey to her government Bangladesh's request to deport Nur Chowdhury, the self-confessed and convicted killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“The issue was raised (by Bangladesh) and we understand it’s an important issue for Bangladesh. I’ll convey this to my capital,” she told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday afternoon after her meeting with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen held at the latter's office.
Read:Bangladesh pushes for killer Nur Chy’s deportation from Canada
Bangladesh, being a time-tested partner of Canada, reiterated its long-standing request for the deportation of Bangabandhu's killer, Momen said.
While talking to reporters in the evening, Momen said he the envoy that Canada should not be a refuge for the murderers and urged the Canadian government to deport the killer.
“This killer has been living in Canada as a fugitive for close to thirty years. Canada being known as the proponent for promotion and protection of human rights, and rule of law, the two countries can work together to agree on some modalities for the deportation of this heinous killer and flagrant violator of human rights,” said Momen in a recent message.
MoU signed to network non-government Australian stakeholders
Bangladesh High Commission in Canberra and Cross Sector Development Partnerships Initiative (XSPI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to complement the existing Australian government development assistance.
The purpose of the recently signed MoU is to identify potential project opportunities, ventures, and areas of collaboration of mutual interests and network with stakeholders through a process of non-binding consultation, said the High Commission on Wednesday.
Read:Bangladesh-US air exercise begins on Feb 20
Initially four priority sectors - ready-made garments, infrastructure, energy and power, health and private capital investment have been identified.
At the workshop held following the signing ceremony, the parties agreed to commence collaboration on the four priority sectors above with initial health sector focus on dengue fever.
In addition, a dialogue has commenced on the investment and financial services conference to be held this year.
Bangladesh-US air exercise begins on Feb 20
A six-day bilateral tactical airlift exercise between the air forces of Bangladesh and the US will begin in this country on February 20.
The six-day exercise -- 'Cope South 22' -- will be held at Dhaka's Kurmitola Cantonment and Operating Location-Alpha in Sylhet, and is aimed at bolstering bilateral ties through tactical airlift sorties and subject-matter expert exchanges, the US Pacific Air Force said in a press release on Wednesday.
Read:MoU signed to network non-government Australian stakeholders
Some 77 US airmen from the 374th Airlift Wing of Yokota Air Base in Japan, along with two Air Force C-130J Super Hercules aircraft from the 36th Airlift Squadron (AS) will join approximately 300 Bangladesh Air Force personnel and two Bangladeshi C-130Js for the exercise, it said.
The goals of the Pacific Air Forces-sponsored bilateral tactical airlift exercise include improving interoperability with the Bangladesh Air Force and supporting the armed forces of the Bangladesh’s long-term modernisa tion efforts in order to maintain regional stability.
This will be done by conducting flight operations to include aircraft generation and recovery, daytime low-level navigation, tactical airdrop, and air-land missions, as well as subject-matter expert exchanges in the operations, maintenance and rigging career fields, according to the US Pacific Air Force.
"The Bangladesh Air Force is one of our most important regional partners, and Cope South allows us to strengthen this partnership through tactical airlift sorties and subject-matter expert exchanges,” said Lt Col Kira Coffey, 36AS Director of Operations.
“This is critical to bolstering regional stability for our shared goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific."
Since 2020, the US has provided over $121 million in Covid-related assistance to Bangladesh.
As this year’s Cope South will be the first iteration since the start of the pandemic, health measures will be in place for the protection of participating forces and the Bangladesh population.
Read:Bangladesh, Mauritius eye Minister-level visits; see vast potential
“Covid-19 has only accelerated the need to improve our ability to work together during a potential humanitarian assistance and disaster relief scenario,” the Lt Col said.
In a joint statement released on June 11, 2019, by the US Department of State, the two governments reaffirmed their commitment to enduring partnership, highlighting close cooperation on security, development, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and counterterrorism.
The two governments had also agreed to continue to cooperate closely to advance a shared vision of a free and open, inclusive, peaceful and secure Indo-Pacific region.
Bangladesh, Mauritius eye Minister-level visits; see vast potential
Mauritius Foreign Minister Alan Ganoo has invited a Bangladesh delegation led by his counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen including businesspeople, IT experts and entrepreneurs to explore the possible areas of collaboration and investment.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen also invited Mauritius Foreign Minister Ganoo and Foreign Secretary Haymandoyal Dillum to visit Bangladesh this year at a time convenient to them.
Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Masud Bin Momen discussed the areas of cooperation between Bangladesh and Mauritius during his three-day official visit to Port Louis, Mauritius that ended on Tuesday.
The Foreign Secretary, Secretary (MAU) Md. Khurshed Alam and other members of the Bangladesh delegation visited "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Street" located in the heart of the city, in Plaine Verte and paid tribute to the greatest Bangalee of all time Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Women entrepreneurs groomed on SMM, SEO
To help women entrepreneurs leverage the digital space to boost their business, Lightshore Foundation has organized a workshop on social media marketing in Barishal.
Conducted in partnership with Manobi, the biggest women’s association of the southern part of Bangladesh, the workshop provided hands-on training to female entrepreneurs on how they can manage digital marketing in a feasible and viable manner.
A total of 30 participants were guided on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing (SMM), attractive content creation, and marketing policy design, said Afsana Mim, founder of Manobi on Tuesday.
“If women entrepreneurs are equipped with the required grooming on social media-based marketing, they will be able to apply those strategies to gear up their sales multiple times,” said Nazmus Sakib, an associate manager of Programming Hero.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) is crucial for entrepreneurs in this era and women entrepreneurs outside Dhaka city do not have much idea on digital marketing. “So our workshop is a timely step and a vessel to deliver products to their customers throughout the country,” said Sultana Razia, a co-founder of Lightshore.
“This session was so innovative! If I can manage to implement the marketing knowledge I have gained in this session, our displayed or selling product will easily reach the target customers,” said Farah Diba, one of the participants.
Dhaka seeks Delhi's buy-in on trilateral cooperation in hydropower
Bangladesh has sought Indian support regarding trilateral cooperation in hydropower among Bangladesh, Bhutan and India.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran on Tuesday met Indian Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh at latter’s office and discussed the issue.
They also discussed various aspects of bilateral cooperation in the power, new and renewable energy sector between Bangladesh and India, during the meeting.
The two sides discussed commissioning of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal and transnational power connectivity, according to Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
Dhaka rules out any pressure from Washington
Bangladesh has ruled out any pressure from the US but sees greater engagements and high-level exchange of visits between the two countries in the coming months giving an indication of the upward trend in relations.
“Not at all, absolutely not at all,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam told reporters when he was asked to respond whether the government is under pressure from the US on various issues.
When his attention was drawn about media reports on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs suggesting US’ pressure, he also ruled it saying no such remarks (US is exerting pressure on Bangladesh) were made by any member of the committee.
Read:Bangladesh, Mauritius highlight collaboration on pharmaceutical, tourism, IT sectors
“Any conversation at the parliamentary standing committee is highly classified and confidential,” the State Minister said, adding that there is no scope that this conversation will go beyond the committee.
He said the bilateral talks between the two countries through a number of platforms including “Partnership Dialogue” will begin next month.
Apart from that, Shahriar said, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has been invited by his US counterpart Antony Blinken to pay a visit to the USA.
The United States recognised Bangladesh on April 4, 1972, in a press statement from Secretary of State William Rogers.
Asked about the invitation of Blinken to Foreign Minister Dr Momen and visit of US Ambassador-designate to Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, Ambassador M Shahidul Islam told UNB that both Bangladesh and the USA are working together to further advance the bilateral relations.
“I think these engagements show that the US is also keen to further strengthen the existing friendly ties,” said the Bangladesh envoy.
The State Minister for Foreign Affairs said they have nothing to say afresh on the sanction issue as he thinks much has been talked about it. “We remain bilaterally engaged with the US.”
He said the discussions and high-level visits in March and April together will create an environment of more friendly relations between the two countries.
The State Minister said the government is looking forward to taking legal aspects into consideration for withdrawal of the sanctions apart from making sure that there will be no expansion of sanctions.
Bangladesh Embassy in Washington and other Bangladesh missions in the United States have further geared up their activities to further strengthen the bilateral relations and cooperation as well as to withdraw sanctions on the current and former RAB officials, sources said.
While visiting the Bangladesh mission in Washington DC on Friday, the US Ambassador-designate to Bangladesh Peter D. Haas said that he looks forward to working together with Dhaka to move "forward and continue" the relationship between the two countries.
Hass, who is expected to arrive in Dhaka in early March, also said they want to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties all year long and try to find the opportunities and recognize the tremendous progress that Bangladesh made in the past 50 years.
Read:Bangladeshis in Ukraine may consider leaving Ukraine: Officials
Bangladesh and the United States plan to hold the next round of “partnership dialogue” in March as the two sides seek to have a “deeper engagement” on core issues of mutual interest, officials say.
Issues related to cooperation on development, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, governance, particularly human rights, security, counterterrorism; and cooperation on Covid-19 front are likely to be reviewed and discussed in the partnership dialogue.
US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Ambassador Victoria Nuland will arrive here to co-chair the partnership dialogue with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen.
Bangladeshis in Ukraine may consider leaving Ukraine: Officials
Bangladesh Embassy in Poland has said Bangladeshi nationals in Ukraine may consider leaving Ukraine temporarily in view of the current situation in Ukraine.Bangladeshi nationals have also been advised to avoid all non-essential travel to Ukraine.
Read: India asks its citizens to leave UkraineThey are also requested to keep the Embassy informed about the status of their presence in Ukraine to enable the Embassy to reach them where and when required, according to an advisory for Bangladesh nationals.