Invest more in Bangladesh
Invest more in Bangladesh
PM urges expatriates
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday called upon the Bangladeshi expatriates, especially from Sylhet region, to invest more in Bangladesh.
She made the request when a five-member delegation of All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), led by Lord Sheikh, met her at Hotel Hilton on Park Lane in the afternoon.
The meeting discussed how to boost trade and investment in Bangladesh from the Sylhet community living in the UK, PM's Press Secretary AKM Shamim Chowdhury and Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told a joint press briefing.
The PM said her government's main focus is also on regional cooperation and connectivity since South Asia is a big market.
Referring to the verdicts on maritime boundary disputes between Bangladesh and its neighbours Myanmar and India, Hasina said such verdicts have opened up the new door of investment, especially in the energy sector. “The UK companies are equally welcome to participate and compete for gas and oil exploration in the Bay of Bengal,” she added.
Bangladesh, said the PM, is a role model for girl and women development for protecting the rights of women. The APPG members lauded the role of Hasina in girl education and women empowerment.
Rushanara Ali MP, Lord Curen Faridul, Baroness Monzila Pola Uddin and Lord Tarek Ahmed were present at the meeting.
BNP CAN'T HARM PEOPLE: PM
The BNP would not be able to cause any harm to the country and its people, the prime minister said on Tuesday.
“I promise that they [BNP] won't be able to cause any harm by the grace of almighty Allah. They won't be able to do anything [destructive],” she told an Iftar and Doa Mahfil hosted by expatriate Bangladeshis in the UK. Local Awami League organised the programme at the ballroom of Hotel Hilton.
The PM is in the UK on a three-day official visit.
The present government, said Hasina, through the January-5 national election has got the chance to carry on the development works. She hoped that her government would be able to accomplish what needs to be done in the rest of the four and a half years of its current tenure.
If any party boycotts an election with a plan to thwart it and ultimately fails to do so and even fails to wage a movement, then the responsibility cannot be shifted to the common people of Bangladesh and to the AL, she mentioned.
Chaired by UK AL president Sultan Mahmud Sharif, chairman of the home affairs select committee Keith Vaz MP, All European AL president Anil Das Gupta, Belgium AL president Rashid, UK AL organising secretary Sajjad Miah, joint general secretary Naimuddin Nizam, London AL president Nurul Haque, among others, spoke at the programme.
Earlier, just before attending the Iftar, the PM launched the website of UK unit of BCL through pressing a laptop button.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki, renowned journalist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury and PM's special assistant Abdus Sobhan Golap were present.