Tuesday, February 18

News Brief from Bangladesh High Commission London


President Md. Abdul Hamid yesterday urged the UK residents and non-resident Bangladeshis (NRB) to invest more in the country in different sectors, including trade and commerce. He made the call while a-five-member delegation of Labour Friends of Bangladesh called on him at Bangabhaban yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday approved the architectural design and model of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre which will be constructed in Rajshahi. The approval was given at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said that the government should take initiative to declare March 25 as genocide day as marauding Pakistani army on that day in 1971 carried out one of the worst genocides in the modern history against unarmed people of Bangladesh. He said this to the parliament while taking part in an unscheduled discussion.

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said mutual understanding between Bangladesh and Germany on different international issues, including terrorism, militancy and sustainable development goals (SDGs), will be strengthened during the Prime Minister’s visit to Munich. He said this to the media yesterday.

The 13th conference of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organisation of parliamentarians, will be held in Dhaka in April this year. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the conference, an official handout said.

The newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four other election commissioners took over charge yesterday. On February 6 last, President Md. Abdul Hamid reconstituted the five-member Election Commission (EC) making former secretary KM Nurul Huda the CEC.

The High Court (HC) yesterday issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why it should not be directed to constitute an inquiry commission for hunting down the conspirators who fabricated stories about corruption conspiracy in the Padma Bridge project.

The Foreign Secretary of India Dr S Jaishankar will arrive in Dhaka on February 23 on an official visit at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Shahidul Haque. During the visit, the two Foreign Secretaries will review areas of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, said a Foreign Ministry release yesterday.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu yesterday said the project to set up a dedicated industrial estate for local plastic industry will be completed by next year. He made the disclosure while inaugurating the ‘12th Bangladesh International Plastics, Printing & Packaging Industry Fair 2017’ at the city’s Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).

An agreement on exchanging information was signed yesterday between Information Commission (IC) of Bangladesh and National Information Commission (NIC) of Nepal. Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Bangladesh Professor Dr Md Golam Rahman and his Nepali counterpart Krishna Hari Baskota signed the treaty at a function at Bangladesh Information Commission office in Dhaka. Under the treaty, IC of the both countries would exchange the information of organizational structure, operating system, research, publication, human resource development and training between them. Later, a bilateral meeting was also held between two countries CIC.

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate yesterday sought information from the World Bank about 16 vehicles for its officials brought in Bangladesh under a duty-free facility. If the persons leave the country without disposal, the head of the organisation concerned will be responsible for them, according to the rules. And under the facility, the 16 WB employees brought in vehicles that now remain unaccounted for, according to customs intelligence.

– Press Wing, London, 16 February 2017