Deputy High Commissioner S. M. Mahbubul Alam presenting a souvenir to Chairman & CEO Pakistan Observer Faisal Zahid Malik who called on him at the Bangladesh Chancery in Karachi.—PO photo Nauman
Zubair Yaqoob Karachi
Chairman & CEO Pakistan Observer Mr Faisal Zahid Malik called on Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh (BD) S. M. Mahbubul Alam in Kara-chi at the BD Chancery and expressed his resolve to make the newspaper as a bridge between the two great nations in South Asia and further strengthen bilateral relations in diverse areas.
S. M. Mahbubul Alam warmly welcomed Mr Faisal Malik and viewed that both countries had warm and close bilateral relations based on mutual respect and friendship. After recognition of Bangladesh as an Independent and Sovereign State in February 1974 by Pakistan, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited Pakistan to attend the OIC Summit in Lahore, he said.
Since then, Bangladesh and Pakistan have been maintaining friendly relationships. Deputy High Commissioner commented that Bangladesh and Pakistan had huge potential for mutually beneficial bilateral ties. He highlighted the success stories of Bangladesh and mentioned that under the charis-matic and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh had achieved huge socio-economic development and become a ‘Role Model’ of socio-economic development in the world.
Bangladesh, he said, was currently among the five fastest growing economies in the world, ranking 35th in terms of GDP, he said adding the South Asian nation had fulfilled all the criteria for the graduation to developing country from the LDC status. He also said that Bangladesh had been pursu-ing the foreign policy of “Friendship to all and mal-ice towards none” since Independence in 1971 as was postulated by the Father of the Nation Ban-gabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This continues to provide the philosophical underpinning of Bang-ladesh’s pro-peace foreign policy. “Father of the Nation propounded peace and development-centric foreign policy, which remains the guiding principle of Bangladesh’s diplomatic engagements today. In 1973 Father of the Nation was awarded the prestig-ious Joliot-Curie Medal of Peace, Alam added.
Bangladesh is currently the 1st in contributing to the UN Peacekeepers. The country has also provided temporary shelter to over 1.1 million Rohingya of Myanmar nationality, which is an extraordinary example of humanitarian role in the world as a re-sponsible sovereign and peace-loving country. The total annual exports of Bangladesh are over US$55 billion and time is not far when the annual export target will be US$100 billion by 2030, he said.
He further added that Bangladesh would be a tril-lion-dollar economy and the 9th largest consumer market in the world by 2041. Chairman & CEO Pakistan Observer Faisal Malik while commending the socio-economic progress of Bangladesh said the diplomatic and trade relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan were quite promising. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh are the founding members of the South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC), as well as members of the developing 8 countries, the OIC and the Commonwealth, he said. Mr Faisal Malik profoundly appreciated the devel-opment journey of Bangladesh and thanked the Deputy High Commissioner for sharing the encour-aging stories of development.
The Deputy High Commissioner invited the Chair-man & CEO of Pakistan Observer to visit Bangla-desh with a media delegation from Pakistan. Deputy High Commissioner S. M. Mahbubul Alam while endorsing the dedication and services in the media industry of Pakistan presented a souvenir to Faisal Zahid Malik.
