Bangladesh will attend Colombo Plan meeting
October 23, 1972
BANGLADESH WILL ATTEND AS OBSERVER
Bangladesh will attend the Colombo Plan Consultative Committee meeting in New Delhi on October 30 as an observer. This decision to seat the newborn nation as an observer is taken by the Colombo Plan Secretariat after an overwhelming number of the 24 member nations extended their consent to the proposal. Bangladesh is already a member of the Commonwealth, a permanent invitee as an observer at the United Nations and an observer to such world bodies as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ( UNCTAD), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
WALDHEIM MAY SEND EMISSARY TO PAKISTAN
The UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim is considering the question of sending his representative to Pakistan to look into the conditions of Bangalees there. This is stated today by a UN spokesperson. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a telegram earlier this month to the secretary general expressed grave concern of the government and people of Bangladesh about the precarious conditions of the Bangalees stranded in Pakistan. He also requested him to use his good offices to secure the expeditious return of the Bangalees and save them from persecution.
SCARCITY OF CEMENT
Construction work all over Bangladesh has been held up for poor availability and sky-high price of cement without which no development work can be undertaken. It is gathered that the yearly requirements of cement for the whole of Bangladesh is six lakh tonnes. Of this total requirement only one lakh tonne is available locally and the rest is to be imported. The Bangladesh government has made contracts with Korea and India for the supply of four lakh tonnes of cement. It is hoped that after a sizeable quantity of cement against these agreements reaches Bangladesh, the situation will greatly improve provided there is no defect in the distribution system.
SOURCES: October 24, 1972 issues of Bangladesh Observer, Dainik Bangla and Dainik Ittefaq.
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