Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday termed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a “revered leader” of this region and said his incessant struggle gave birth to Bangladesh.
“He had showed unswerving leadership and unremitting action for it,” the visiting President said while delivering her speech as a guest of honour on the theme of "Nepal-Bangladesh Relations and Bangabandhu's Birth Centenary" at a programme organized in Dhaka on the occasion of the Birth Centenary of the Father of the Nation. She also spoke on connectivity between the country for the progress and prosperity. Nepal was the seventh country to recognise Bangladesh on 8 April 1972.
It is the first visit of a Nepalese President to Dhaka. The Himalayan state’s President is visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of her Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Hamid who received her at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
The Nepalese President became the third among the world leaders to attend the celebrations of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence and the birth centenary of Bangabandhu. She will be followed by the Bhutanese Prime Minister who will arrive on March 24 and the Indian Prime Minister on March 26, the Independence Day.
The President thanked her counterpart for the invitation and said inviting her for this celebration reflects the “close and friendly” relations existing between Nepal and Bangladesh.
She said in the recent years, Bangladesh has successfully lifted a large population out of poverty through rapid economic growth and this trend is ongoing.
“I feel happy to witness these positive changes taking place in our friendly country and the life of its people,” she said.
“For a long time, Nepal and Bangladesh have continued to enjoy close, friendly and cooperative relationship. Geographically, our two countries are only a short distance away from each other. This geographical proximity, similar culture, tradition, mutual support and goodwill have firmly knotted the bilateral ties,” she said.
“I am very happy to know about the rapid development taking place in Bangladesh in accordance with Bangabandhu's vision of Sonar Bangla (Golden Bangladesh). As a close friend, Nepal would like to see continued economic progress and development of Bangladesh,” she said.
“As the celebrations on Bangabandhu's birth centenary is going on, I consider the continued progress of Bangladeshi people a fitting tribute to his contributions to the nation building process of Bangladesh.
“It was he who pioneered the independence movement of Bangladesh ever since his youth. He was a charismatic leader, well organizer, person of determination and courage and stout freedom fighter.
“Also, in my country, the government of Nepal has dedicated its entire efforts towards realizing the common national aspiration of Samriddha Nepal, Sukhi Nepali (Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali).
“With our incessant efforts, Nepal will achieve the status of a middle-income country before long. Our efforts are focused on turning Nepal a prosperous nation,” she said, adding that the development efforts of Nepal and Bangladesh will contribute to socio-economic progress of whole South Asia.
While praising Bangabandhu’s leadership, the Nepalese President said in acknowledgement of his contribution, he was accorded the honoured title of Bangabandhu (Friend of the Bengalis) by then All Parties Students Action Committee in 1969.
“The entire Bangladesh instantly accepted it. Bangabandhu had deep love and esteem for Bangla language. He was the person who championed the cause for the protection and promotion of Bangla language with the support of Bangladeshi people. We also learn about his great compassion for the weak, downtrodden, poor and other citizens in difficulty.
“As an excellent orator, organizer and crusader, Bangabandhu won the hearts and minds of the people of Bangladesh and attained the goal of creating a new nation,” she said.
“Bangabandhu also expanded the reach of Bangladesh to the international community during his short period of leadership of the country after independence. Now, we are happy to see the celebrations of the birth centenary of Bangabandhu across Bangladesh in recognition of his role, contribution and sacrifice for the independence of Bangladesh.”
Nepal-Bangladesh relations have continued to grow ever since the establishment of the diplomatic relations.
Exchange of high-level visits has contributed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a new height, the President said.
President Hamid had visited Nepal in November 2019 and now I am here. Exchange of visits both at government and people's levels has significantly been increased.
Nepal and Bangladesh are rich countries in terms of natural and human resources, history, civilization, culture, and so on.
“Proper utilization of these valuable resources will be catalytic in transforming our development landscape, creating prosperity and happiness for our peoples,” she said.
“We have been cooperating to enhance trade, transit, energy, connectivity, tourism, education, culture, and people-to people relations. We are actively engaged in promoting our common interest at multilateral forums through mutual support and cooperation. We need to advance our partnership in these areas,” she said.
The volume of bilateral trade at present is moderate with enough scope for its expansion. Nepal has an increasing trade deficit with Bangladesh. We need to minimize the trade deficit in order to make trade beneficial for both countries, she said.
Elimination of trade barriers, development of infrastructure and easy market access could significantly boost the trade relationship. Energy is another important area for the expansion of cooperation between our two countries. The two countries have already signed an MoU on cooperation in power.
“Nepal's hydropower and Bangladesh's natural gas can be the game-changers for our development needs,” she said.
“For our energy trade, it is imperative to strengthen trilateral cooperation among Nepal, Bangladesh and India.”
“Connectivity is quintessential for smooth and wider interactions and engagements between our two countries. With a view to enhancing the connectivity networks, we can add more flights to the existing Kathmandu-Dhaka sector and also connect by air our major regional cities like Saidpur of Bangladesh and Biratnagar of Nepal,” she said.
Likewise, linkages of Nepal's rivers with that of India and Bangladesh will help develop waterways. Through this, connectivity can be improved and the cost of transport and trade can be reduced.
“Upgrading of roadways and development of railways and their linkages can also contribute meaningfully to this process. In this context, I am happy to state that the process of including Rohanpur as a “Port of Call” for promoting bilateral trade through railway transit is moving ahead.”
Given the natural beauty, rich historical and archaeological sites and cultural heritages of the two countries, both Nepal and Bangladesh can enormously benefit from the expansion of mutual cooperation in tourism sector, she said.
Bangladeshi tourists can relish Nepal's snow-capped mountains, lush green valleys, rich bio-diversity, and the visit of important historical, archaeological and cultural sites. Likewise, Nepali tourists can visit beautiful sea beaches, mangrove forest and cultural and historical sites of Bangladesh.
Currently, a good number of Nepali students have been pursuing higher education in Bangladesh, especially in the medical and engineering fields.
Similarly, Bangladeshi students are having studies in Nepal in Buddhism, pharmacy and others fields, she said.
Enhancement of quality education, including providing required support to the students, will help further expand bilateral cooperation in this sector.
Both Nepal and Bangladesh have been adversely affected by the impacts of climate change. The high lands of Nepal and the low lands of Bangladesh have been bearing the huge brunt of the climate crisis without being a cause for it, she said.
Earlier, from the airport, the Nepalese President went to the National Memorial in Savar to pay respect to the martyrs of the Liberation War of Bangladesh by placing wreaths.
She also signed the visitors’ book and planted a sapling there. She also visited Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi no. 32 to pay tributes to Bangabandhu.
The Nepalese President was given a guard of honour guard at the airport with 21-gun salute by a smartly turned out contingent drawn from Bangladesh Army, Navy and Air Force.
Her entourage members include her daughter Usha Kiran Bhandari, Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and secretaries concerned and senior officials of the Nepalese government.
