Australia agrees to raise aid for Bangladesh

---

CANBERRA, June 13 (UNB): Bangladesh and Australia agreed Wednesday to further expand bilateral cooperation in promising areas as Canberra decided to increase its annual aid for Dhaka.
The broad-based agreement came during official talks between Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Australia will increase its bilateral assistance to Bangladesh by 33 per cent from the next year, raising the amount to around A$48 million.
"Our bilateral relations are poised to expand greatly," Chowdhury said following his meeting with Downer at the Foreign Ministry in Canberra.
The adviser added, "We held discussions in a cordial atmosphere and agreed to take our cooperation further along a variety of areas."
During the meeting, Chowdhury explained the reform measures that the caretaker government was adopting.
In reply, Downer expressed the hope that the measures would facilitate the holding of elections within the stipulated timeframe.
The adviser reaffirmed the caretaker government's commitment to strictly applying "zero tolerance" for human rights violations, and informed his Australian counterpart that a National Human Rights Commission was being set up.
Downer, while appreciating these measures, stressed the importance of continued focus on human rights issues.
He assured that Australian aid to Bangladesh would be enhanced and the modalities and content of the aid need to be worked out.
Downer said, "Australia and Bangladesh have worked together intermittently but there was a necessity to have greater cooperation in many common areas on a continued and structured basis."
Among others, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Australia Humayun Kabir and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shahidul Islam and Assistant Secretary for South and West Asia of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Kathy Klugman were also present at the meeting.
Chowdhury received a briefing from AusAid, the Australian aid agency.
During the talks, he stressed the need for increase in scholarships for Bangladeshis and sending English teachers for Bangladeshi schools from Australia under its proposed 'English in Action' programme.
The possibilities of supply of lentils and chic-peas to meet Bangladesh's current requirement was also discussed.