Today, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to continue its efforts to raise more foreign money for the Rohingya population.
She made the request at a meeting at a major hotel here with Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who was visiting as a goodwill ambassador of the UNDP.
Following the meeting, reporters were informed by PM’s Speechwriter, Md. Nazrul Islam.
During the conference, several bilateral and multilateral problems, including climate change, were discussed in addition to the Rohingya issue.
Against the backdrop of declining trend of international funds for Rohingyas, the premier urged the UNDP to mobilise efforts so that the larger amount of funds would come to support the Rohingyas.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh had given shelter to displaced Rohingyas on humanitarian ground and arranged improved accommodation for them in Bhashanchar with ensuring required facilities.
Some one lakh Rohingya can reside in Bhashanchar, she added.
The prime minister has asked the UNDP for help in order to facilitate the relocation of more Rohingyas to Bhashanchar.
She urged Swedish businessmen to increase their investments in Bangladesh, especially in the country’s special economic zones.
Mentioning that Bangladesh is one of the worst victims of climate change, she said, “Bangladesh’s contribution to carbon emission is negligible but the country is badly affected.”
Bangladesh faces different natural calamities like floods and cyclones due to climate changes, she said.
About the local climate adaptation and mitigation programmes, she said Bangladesh formed a climate trust fund to protect the local community and their livelihood.
The premier said her government’s main goal is to alleviate poverty as it has already declined the poverty rate to 18.7 percent from 41 percent and the extreme poverty rate to 5.6 percent from 25.1.
The government, she said, has been providing homeless people with free cyclone-resistant houses throughout the country to make Bangladesh as an abode of “no homeless people”.
According to the premier, her government built cyclone shelters near the coast. She thought back to 1969, the year of her husband’s research visit to Sweden.
The Swedish Crown Princess, however, stated that there is a great deal of room to grow Sweden-Bangladesh bilateral ties.
She expressed hope that commerce, business, and investment between the two nations would grow stronger on a bilateral basis.
Victoria traveled to Bangladesh for four days, arriving in Dhaka on Monday.
She is going to camps for Rohingya people in Bhashanchar and Cox’s Bazar.
