Bangladesh on Thursday provided medical assistance worth Tk 10 crore to Sri Lanka for the friendly people of this South Asian country.

“It is the expression of solidarity and friendship between our two nations,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said while speaking at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, acting High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Bangladesh Ruwanthi Delpitiya, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Essential Drugs Company Limited, and officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare were present.

Momen said every country is facing challenges of its own in varying degrees due to the prolonged impact of COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine war and recent conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“Sri Lanka or Bangladesh is not an exception. In this trying time, mutual collaboration is much more needed than ever before,” he said.

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Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the foreign minister said, Bangladesh never hesitates to extend assistance in its modest ability to any nation in difficulties, in particular its neighbours. “The cornerstone of our gesture is pure goodwill and friendship without any string attached.”

In recent times, Bangladesh has donated medicines and other relief materials to Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey and the latest to Palestine. Last year, Bangladesh sent medicine worth nearly Tk 20 crore to Sri Lanka as donation.

“Our ability to assist with medicines and medical devices symbolizes a very significant achievement of Bangladesh in the pharmaceutical industry,” Momen said, adding that, “Our products have by now earned a good name in the global pharmaceutical market due to their high quality. We are also exporting medicine to Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka stands to benefit more.”

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Bangladesh is also in the process of concluding an arrangement for exporting medicine to Sri Lanka as proposed by the Government of Sri Lanka, he said.

As a peace-loving nation, as a country with a humanitarian face and above all as a neighbour, Bangladesh greatly values its relations with Sri Lanka. We are committed to strengthen it further,” said the foreign minister.

The acting High Commissioner expressed her sincere gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the government of Bangladesh for the support of supplying much needed medicine for the people of Sri Lanka.

She mentioned that the medical assistance to Sri Lankan people is a testimony of the strong and long standing friendship between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

She appreciated that Bangladesh donated medical supplies to Sri Lanka last year at a time when Sri Lanka was in the midst of an economic downturn which was a great help for the people of Sri Lanka.