Australia urged to contribute to Multi Donor Trust Fund

Speaker Abdul Hamid Advocate on Wednesday called on the Australian government to provide fund for Multi Donor Trust Fund created by the Bangladesh government to fight the adverse impacts of climate change.
At a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith in Canberra, Hamid also urged the Australian government to ease visa process for Bangladeshi students and reduce assessment level from four to three to get visas, says a release.
The release said the Australian minister assured the speaker of the House that his government would look into both the issues with due importance.
Led by Hamid, a six-member parliament delegation went to Australia on February 21 for a seven-day visit.
Earlier at a courtesy call with Hamid, the Speaker of Australian Federal Parliament Harry Jenkins expressed his willingness to work with the Bangladesh parliament to strengthen parliamentary democracy here.
The two speakers also discussed issues of mutual interests, particularly related to the effective functioning of the parliament.
Hamid along with his delegates observed the question hour of the House of Representatives of the Australian parliament.
The team also visited the Senate of the Australian parliament while it was in session.
Hamid was invited by Senator John Hogg, president of the Senate, to be seated beside him at the Senate which was a rare honour shown to the speaker of Bangladesh.