UNB, Dhaka :
Representatives of the UN and its member states have lauded the remarkable progress of Bangladesh saying it has made tremendous strides over the past five decades and become a development miracle.
They came up with the recognition during the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s Independence on Friday.
The event was organised by the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in a virtual platform.
High-level representatives of the United Nations Headquarters, Permanent Missions of different countries and UN agencies along with other dignitaries of the international community attended the virtual reception.
In his video message, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recognised the tremendous strides made by Bangladesh over the past five decades, particularly on issues of social development and disaster preparedness.
He acknowledged Bangladesh’s valuable role on the world stage as the largest troop contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations, as Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and also as a host to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
“We’ll continue to stand with Bangladesh in tackling the climate crisis and working for the Sustainable Development Goals,” said the UN chief.
President of the UN General Assembly (PGA)Volkan Bozkir applauded Bangladesh’s contribution to multilateralism, international peace and security, ‘Culture of Peace’ agenda and humanity.
He appreciated Bangladesh’s generosity for hosting over one million Rohingya refugees and lauded its great progress on sustainable development.
Bozkir praised Bangladesh’s “the whole of society approach” for achieving the SDGs and commended its Covid-19 recovery initiatives towards ‘building forward better’.
The Permanent Representative of Bangladesh Ambassador Rabab Fatima paid deep tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose clarion call inspired the whole nation to join the War of Liberation.
Ambassador Fatima also paid homage to the three million martyrs who made supreme sacrifice for the independence. She also recalled the maiden speech of Bangabandhu at the General Assembly in 1974, which eventually determined the course of Bangladesh’s foreign policy based on its trust and confidence in the UN as the center of people’s future hopes and aspirations.
Ambassador Fatima expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, under whose visionary leadership and forward-looking development strategies Bangladesh has turned from an impoverished, war-torn state to one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
“Last month, the CDP recommended us for graduation from the LDC category. On our 50th anniversary we achieved something which has been a long-cherished aspiration of our entire nation,” she added.
She hoped that as envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh will be able to achieve vision 2041, which is building a knowledge-based, prosperous and developed society.
Among others, the Permanent Representatives of Morocco, Ireland, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, Oman, Sierra Leone, Japan, India, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made remarks. The Deputy Secretary General, Executive Director of UNICEF and the Administrator of UNDP also delivered their remarks.
They expressed their sincere appreciation to the leadership and people of Bangladesh for their socio-economic progress over the last five decades.
The speakers also paid accolades to Bangladesh for its leadership role in contemporary international issue, such as, women empowerment, peacekeeping, climate change, humanitarianism.
The day started with hoisting of the national flag and playing the national anthem at Mission’s Bangabandhu Auditorium.
Special prayers were offered for the salvation of the souls of martyrs. Messages of the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and State Minister to Foreign Affairs given for the day were read out.
The video message of the Prime Minister and UN Secretary-General were displayed.
The mission also held an open discussion. The Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima presided over the discussion meeting.
