Religious harmony key to dev: speakers
As part of celebrating Bangladesh Peace and Harmony Week 2019, a roundtable titled “Policy Café” was held on Friday to promote interfaith harmony and cooperation in achieving sustainable development goals (SDG).
The roundtable was organised by Gen Lab, a social innovation and skills development organisation, at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka where lawmakers, social innovators, media personalities, young leaders, academicians and religious leaders participated, says a press release.
Rosalee Laplante, political counsellor of the Canadian High Commission; Audrey Hsiehi, political officer of US Embassy in Dhaka; lawmaker Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandari; Porf Kazi Nurul Islam, founding chairperson of World Religion and Culture department at Dhaka University; and Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad, among others, spoke at the programme.
Nazibul Maizvandari said, “To develop interfaith harmony, it is important to hold more open dialogues…and strengthen our curriculums and social organisations.”
“There is so much to learn from Bangladesh regarding harmony and social inclusivity,” said Rosalee Laplante.
In his speech, Rana Dasgupta said, “We have many problems but we must work hard to maintain religious harmony by removing all hostility.”
“Bangladesh is moving forward steadily. Youth is the major power of Bangladesh. Young people need to play a role in building more social diversity and acceptance to different faith and values,” said Audrey Hsiehi.
Gen Lab Executive Director Ratul Dev, who moderated the programme, said, “We are moving forward with many development indicators. Harmony is the major force of development in Bangladesh.”
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