Press Release on Bangladesh High Commissioner's meetings with Dignitaries in Fiji.
Bangladesh High Commission, Canberra | 03 April 2009 | Press Release
Bangladesh High Commissioner to Australia concurrently accredited to the Republic of Fiji Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury met the Mayor of Suva City on 03 April 2009 in Suva, Fiji and discussed issues of mutual interests. The Mayor sought cooperation in getting investment to the city from Bangladesh as well as in learning from the experiences of organic waste management of cities in Bangladesh.
The High Commissioner later met the Commander Land Force Colonel Pita Driti where a briefing on the role and activities of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) was given by the Chief of Staff of Operations of RFMF. The High Commissioner also briefed there on the role of the Bangladesh Army in the development effort of Bangladesh as well as in the UN peace keeping operations. He offered the training opportunities for the RFMF officers in the Military institutions of Bangladesh.
The High Commissioner met the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health where he requested to explore the possibility of importing pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh that are of high quality but of very competitive price and recruiting more doctors from Bangladesh. He also requested the Permanent Secretary to send some Fijian students to Bangladesh medical colleges which are of high standard. The Secretary assured that she would look into the issues. She also mentioned that at this moment Fiji needs doctors specialized in the field of pathology, radiology and ophthalmology. She also mentioned that Fiji would procure medicine of high standard with competitive price.
Chief Justice of the Republic of Fiji Islands Mr. Anthony Gates showed his keen interest to learn from the experiences of the Judiciary of Bangladesh during the meeting with the Bangladesh High Commissioner Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury on the same day at the Supreme Court of Fiji in Suva, Fiji. Bangladesh High Commissioner informed the Chief Justice that the Government of Bangladesh separated the judiciary from the executive in November 2007 to have a strong judicial process to establish rule of law in the country. The current government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reiterated the commitment of creating an environment of effective judiciary to establish social justice in Bangladesh, the High Commissioner mentioned at the meeting.
Bangladesh High Commissioner met Mr. Savenaca Narube, the Governor of Reserve Bank of Fiji Islands, on the same day and discussed the issues of mutual interests, particularly the issue of tackling financial crisis by both the governments. The High Commissioner mentioned that the Government of Bangladesh has taken very pro-active initiatives for the benefit of businessmen, entrepreneurs and ordinary people by supporting them through different financial packages in the wake of the global financial crisis so that they can sustain their businesses. The High Commissioner also offered that the Government of Fiji could acquire the experiences of Grameen Bank to replicate the model of micro-finance for rural development of Fiji. The Governor responded positively and also expressed his willingness to acquire the experiences of tackling the financial crisis by the Central Bank of Bangladesh (Bangladesh Bank) and the Government.
Later the High Commissioner had an interview with the television channel -Fiji TV where he outlined the potentiality of enhancing bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and Fiji in the areas of agriculture, micro-finance and trade.
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(Mahbub Hassan Saleh)
Counsellor
