Dhaka-Washington must expand its horizons to newer areas of mutual cooperation, says Ambassador Ziauddin

Two-day Victory Day celebration was wrapped up at Bangladesh embassy in Washington D. C. Tuesday with fresh pledge to establish “Golden Bangladesh” dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Today, on the 47th anniversary of Victory Day, we need to ponder and reflect on how far we have advanced in fulfilling the aspiration of the Father of the Nation,” Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin said at a reception.

Diplomats of foreign missions, officials from the US State Department and the World Bank, senior journalists, businessmen and leading members of Bangladesh diaspora largely attended the reception.

Paying deep tributes to the Father of the Nation, Ambassador Ziauddin said Bangabandhu, our fearless leader, boldly led the Bengali nation to independence in 1971 while his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina envisions Bangladesh as a middle income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041.

“Our efforts are greatly supported by our development partners. Of them, the USA is a prominent one in development and in foreign relations,” he noted.

He said Bangladesh and the USA holds annual Partnership Dialogue as well as Military Dialogue, Security Dialogue and the TICFA. These regular dialogues are reflection of the two countries’ commitment to cooperate in the important areas of bilateral relations.

Both countries, he said, must build on this robust partnership and expand its horizons to newer areas of mutual cooperation.

Recalling the genocide on the Bengalis unleashed by the Pakistani occupation army on the harrowing night of 25th March, the Ambassador said the ruthless brutality of the genocide stunned the conscience of the world. In the USA, the American people took the side of the brutalized Bengalis.

He said human rights champion like Senator Edward Kennedy, former US diplomat and consul general in Dhaka Archer K Blood, famous musician George Harrison and gifted poet Allen Ginsberg who supported the Bengalis cause and justice in 1971. There were many other Americans and prominent personalities from countries all over the world. They were honored with special recognition by the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for their heroic role in support of the Bengali people during the war of liberation.

The Ambassador said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also took bold step to hold trial of war criminals who had collaborated with the Pakistani army in perpetuating atrocities and crimes against the Bengali nation.

‘Their trials and punishment was aimed to heal the wounds of war and to close once for all the agony-ridden chapter of the Bengali nation’s history.”

The Ambassador said in a span of a few decades, the world is today all praise of Bangladesh as a role model of socio-economic development.

On the concluding day, a cultural program was organized by the embassy family and artists from Bangladesh Diaspora.

 

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