Bangladeshi diaspora immensely contributing to development endeavors, says FM

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.

Today is March 26 is the 48th Independence and National Day of Bangladesh.
Forty seven years back on this day, our great leader, the greatest Bengali of all times and the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh.
Bangabandhu steered the freedom–seeking nation to independence through his visionary and charismatic leadership.
His historic March 7 speech was a great inspiration for our liberation war.
We celebrate our independence day this year at a time when his historic March 7 speech has been recognized as part of the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO.
At the same time Bangladesh has been graduated from the LDC group to developing country category. This milestone feat of the country has been officially confirmed by the UN on the eve of the 98th birth anniversary of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
On this auspicious day, I take this opportunity to pay my sincere tribute to 3 million martyrs of our glorious war of independence, who made supreme sacrifices for the independence of our beloved motherland.
I also pay homage to all valiant freedom fighters, and 200,000 mothers and sisters who sacrificed their honor during our liberation war.
I recall with gratitude the invaluable contributions of the members of our diplomatic front who played a crucial and courageous role in garnering moral and material support from the international community during our war of independence.
I also convey my heartiest greetings and felicitations to all Bengali brothers and sisters at home and abroad as well as to all our foreign friends and partners across the globe.
The present government under the visionary leadership of our beloved leader Bangabandhu’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working hard to realize Bangabandhu’s dream of building a “Sonar Bangla” (golden Bengal) with a view to achieving people’s social-economic emancipation and building poverty and hunger-free society.
Bangladesh is now a “role model” for success in all social-economic sectors like education, health, gender equity and women empowerment.
After successful attainment of most of the “millennium development goals,” we are confident of achieving the “sustainable development goals” on time through appropriate plans and initiatives.
Due to our intense diplomatic efforts and extensive engagement with the international community Bangladesh’s relationship with other countries and international organizations has reached a new height in recent years, both in terms of depth and dimension.
We have been able to garner widespread support from the international community on Rohingya issue and significant progress has been made so far in this regard.
Today, Bangladesh stands out in the comity of nations with its own hard-earned reputation, development achievements and self-esteem.
On this historic day, I wish to thank all the members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our Missions abroad for their committed efforts in advancing our foreign policy objectives and development goals, and promoting our national interests on the world stage.
I also congratulate Bangladesh and enhancing Bangladesh’s image abroad.
On this glorious day, being imbued with the spirit of our great liberation war and with a view to building Bangabandhu’s dream of “Sonar Bangla” (golden Bengal), let us take a fresh vow to devote ourselves to work from our respective positions in advancing the ongoing developments efforts of the present government to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and build a better world for our future generations.

Joy Bangla, joy Bangabandhu.

Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, M.P.
Foreign Minister