Ayubowan, Vannakkam, Namaskar, Assalamu Alaikum.
COLOMBO : Today is the great Independence and National Day of Bangladesh. As we celebrate this auspicious occasion, I bring to you the best wishes and warm greetings from the people of Bangladesh. I am also thankful to all of you for your good wishes towards us.
On this day, we pay our deepest homage to our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under whose undisputed leadership we achieved our independence. We also pay tribute to our millions of martyrs, freedom fighters and war heroines for their sacrifice during our glorious War of Liberation. They will remain as the constant source of inspiration in our quest for development, peace, and prosperity.
Sri Lanka recognized Bangladesh on 04 March 1972. Ever since, Bangladesh-Sri Lanka relationship has been all about friendship, goodwill and good neighbourliness. It rests on common historical legacy, shared culture and values, similar aspirations, and even identical development challenges. Natural affinity between our two peoples lies at its core.
Today, Bangladesh stands tall in the comity of nations as a responsible member which is making significant development strides under the pragmatic leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Sri Lanka is a valued partner in our development journey.
We are very happy to see that economic stability is getting restored in Sri Lanka. It reflects the resilience of the nation. We fervently hope that the year 2024 will see Sri Lanka return to growth trajectory. The government and people of Bangladesh stand firmly beside Sri Lanka in its endeavours. We in our humble ways supported Sri Lanka during its challenging time and that would continue.
We help each other in our own beautiful ways. We share our development experiences. We are striving for further collaboration in connectivity, education, people-to-people contact, investment, public health, agriculture and tourism. We are strengthening our trade relations. This can help Sri Lanka’s economic recovery too. We are also happy to see the growing interest of Sri Lankan business community to do business in Bangladesh.
Our two nations enjoy this strong camaraderie in regional and international fora as well. There we are joining our voices in combating global common threats such as climate change, terrorism, and public health challenges. Our engagements and mutual support at the IORA hold a lot of potential too.
I am proud to witness these signs of deepening of our bilateral ties. Yet there is much more to achieve. With this conviction, we are exploring new avenues of collaboration. And I am looking forward to making our journey ahead more beneficial and meaningful for achieving a shared prosperity.
Joi Bangla!
May Bangladesh-Sri Lanka friendship live forever!
