BSS, Dhaka :
“Bangladesh Cultural Centers” will be established in important cities of the world.
Minister for Cultural Affairs’ Asaduzzaman Noor talking to BSS said, “To showcase the culture of Bangladesh, cultural centers would be established in important cities of the world. This is the directive of the Prime Minister. Initially we have selected three cities: Kolkata, London and New York.”
He said there is a Bangladesh center in London. The cultural center would be established there. In Kolkata we have a building. It was the property of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy’s maternal uncle. An information officer from the information ministry is currently stationed there. It has a library, too.
But this house is too small to house a cultural center, so we are looking at other options, Noor said.
Explaining the choice of cities, the Cultural Minister said, “There are plenty of Bengalis in London and New York. They also have links back home. As for Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, we have great cultural affinity with it: sharing a common language, literature, art and culture. Communicating with them would be easy.”
“After that we are thinking of setting up another cultural center in New Delhi,” he said. Cultural Ministry sources said that necessary steps were being taken for setting up cultural centers of international standard, abroad. Besides, the foreign ministry and other concerned ministries were looking at possible locations, probable budgets and other details.
Currently Bangladesh has a number of information centers in different cities of the world but they are very small. They are not in a position to host cultural centers.
