Because Australia possesses technological know-how in this area, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today asked for Australia’s assistance in increasing agricultural production.
“We have to boost our output. because the population is growing and our land is becoming less. Australia’s highly developed agriculture technologies can assist us in this regard, the speaker stated.
The prime minister made these remarks this afternoon during a courtesy call at her official house, Ganabhaban, from Australian Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong.
She added that although Bangladesh has increased its manifold in the previous 15 years, it has made notable strides in agricultural productivity, and Australia can assist Bangladesh in achieving even greater success.
Speech by the Prime Minister Following the meeting, newsmen were informed by writer Md Nazrul Islam.
The prime minister claimed that wealthy nations are only making promises and not following through on them regarding climate change-related matters.
But she voiced her dissatisfaction during the conversation, citing the industrialized countries’ failure to meet their commitments on the problem of climate change, as Nazrul Islam brought up in the media briefing.
In this regard, Sheikh Hasina emphasized that the Bangladeshi government has established the Climate Trust Fund using its own funds.
“We didn’t sit idle (for the developed countries), rather we have created our own Climate Trust Fund to save our people; we are trying from our side,” she added. Mentioning that Bangladesh is a vulnerable country due to the climate change, she said it is hit by cyclone and flood very often. Talking about Rohingya and Palestine issues, the Prime Minister said that Bangladesh is against any sort of war or conflict. “We want discussion and dialogue for resolving every conflict,” she said.
She said that Bangladesh is trying to resolve the Rohingya issue through bilateral dialogues to send back them to their homeland, Myanmar. The Prime Minister said that although Bangladesh has requested for the international assistance in this regard, but the progress to send them back is not getting significant progress. She said that Bangladesh is a densely populated country although its area is very small. “For that we have put emphasis on creating employment,” She Hasina added. In this connection, she said that the government is setting up hundred economic zones across the country.
The Prime Minister said that currently some 90,000 people of Bangladesh origin are living in Australia and they are contributing to Australia’s economy.
She requested the Australian Foreign Minister widening scope to allow more Bangladeshi students in their country.
The Australian Foreign Minister laid emphasis on further strengthening and deepening existing bilateral relations between the two countries.
Among those in attendance were PM’s Principal Secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah, Ambassador-at-Large Mohammad Ziauddin, and Advisor Salman Fazlur Rahman.
On a two-day official visit, the Australian foreign minister arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday with the goal of fortifying their bilateral ties with Bangladesh and exploring avenues to further collaboration for the peace, prosperity, and security of the region.
