PM wants more UK support for BD’s dev

FE Team | Published: June 17, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

LONDON, June 16 (UNB): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Bangladesh is following Westminster democracy and has been working hard to strengthen its all democratic institutions.
"Though we've been trying to follow Westminster type of democracy, it's a difficult job. Anyway, we're improving gradually to this end," she said.
The Prime Minister was addressing a reception at the office of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), UK Chapter, at British Parliament here on Monday. Chairman of All Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh Keith Vaz accorded the reception to the lawmakers who were elected for the first time to the British Parliament.
Sheikh Hasina said her vision is to build a Bangladesh which will be free from poverty where the key factors will be democracy and secularism.
Thirty British MPs, including Rushana Ali, Dr Rupa Huq, Jimi Fitzpatrick, Anne Main, Kate Osamer, Catherin
West, Jonathon Shaw, Andy Slater, Baroness Paula Uddin and CPA UK Chapter Chief Executive Andrew Tuggy were present.
About secularism, the Prime Minister said the people of all religious faiths have the freedom to practise the rituals of their religions and that was enshrined in Bangladesh constitution.
The Prime Minister recalled with gratitude the British support for Bangladesh during its tumultuous birth and also in her fight to establish democracy in Bangladesh.
She sought more British support to continue Bangladesh's ongoing development, and said Bangladesh is making progress in every sector but it needs more support from Britain as the great country has long been supporting it. Terming Britain as Bangladesh's major development partner, Sheikh Hasina hoped that the two countries would continue to work together for mutual benefits.
She recollected how the British MPs stood by her during the 2007-2008 tenure of a caretaker government which had refused to let her enter Bangladesh, but she returned home amid international and local pressure who also forced the government to hold parliamentary elections.
Turning to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent Bangladesh visit, Sheikh Hasina said she told her Indian counterpart, "We've a common vision of rooting out poverty from the region forever."