Netherlands to stand beside Bangladesh
Dutch Queen Maxima yesterday assured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that the Netherlands will extend all-out support to Bangladesh in its development efforts.
She came up with the assurance during a meeting with Hasina at her official residence the Gono Bhaban.
On Monday, Queen Maxima arrived in Dhaka on a three-day official visit in her capacity as the UN secretary general's special advocate for inclusive finance for development.
After yesterday's meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.
Maxima said she was very impressed by various development projects and financial activities, especially digitisation scheme of the A2I Programme and mobile banking services in Bangladesh.
It is very much impressive that 29 million people of Bangladesh are currently receiving mobile-banking services, she added.
She highly appreciated Bangladesh's stunning progress in socioeconomic field as well as digitisation programme, saying Bangladesh government has done many good jobs in these areas.
Maxima also shared the experience of her visit to a number of places in Bangladesh and said she talked to the general people during her inspection to different projects.
Noting that different development institutions like the World Bank and the UNDP have been extending their assistance to Bangladesh's development strides, the Dutch Queen stressed building a strong infrastructure in the country.
Pointing out that both the Netherlands and Bangladesh are delta countries, Maxima said they can share their experiences for further development in the agriculture sector.
Hasina said Bangladesh and the Netherlands have unique geographical similarities in terms of the presence of a large Deltaic coastline.
She noted with satisfaction that the two countries are working together for the ongoing joint activities under Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 in the areas like river dredging, land reclamation, construction of infrastructure, creation of green belt in coastal regions and other climate adaptation measures.