bdnews24.com :Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has expressed the hope that the Australian cricket team, which postponed its visit to Bangladesh on security grounds last year will come to the country “soon”.He also hoped that cooperation in the field of sports between the two countries would continue. He made his remarks at his meeting with the newly appointed Australian High Commissioner, Julia Niblett, when she called on him on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said.A senior career officer with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Niblett presented her credentials to President Abdul Hamid on Aug 10.She has previously held the positions of Assistant Secretary in South-East Asia Maritime Bilateral Branch; Mekong, Philippines and Myanmar Development Branch; and Asia Strategies and Partnerships Branch in the former AusAID. She was also posted in Bangkok, Paris and Manila with the Immigration Department, according to the Australian foreign ministry.The foreign minister, while welcoming Niblett to Bangladesh, expressed the hope that the avenues of cooperation which had opened up between Dhaka and Canberra in recent times would be further strengthened and widened in the days ahead.The Australian cricketers, who were scheduled to tour Bangladesh in September last year, called off the trip 48 hours before the squad was due to fly in “due to concerns about the safety and security of the Australian Test team”. The foreign minister has given the new envoy a briefing on the security measures taken by the government, particularly after the July 1 terrorist attack.He also referred to the “invaluable” contributions of the Australian people and its government during Bangladesh’s War of Liberation in 1971 and hoped that relations between the two nations would be brought “back to the same level” that was experienced during the 1971-1975 period.
