Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has called upon the UK parliamentarians to raise their voices at Westminster in favour of financing climate vulnerable nations such as Bangladesh, and advocate among G20 parliaments to arrest emissions and global warming. Shirin was delivering her speech as chief guest at the interactive dialogue “Bangladesh Rising” with British parliamentarians organised by the Bangladesh High Commission in London Wednesday.
The speaker emphasised strengthening institutional collaboration between Bangladesh and the British parliamentarians – especially on strengthening parliamentary democracy and good governance, delivering on Agenda 2030, climate change, women empowerment and the protracted Rohingya crisis.
She also highlighted that Bangladesh has been sheltering and protecting the 1.1 million Rohingyas fleeing from Myanmar for five years now, and the only solution to the Rohingya crisis lies in the safe and sustainable return of the persecuted Rohingyas to their homeland in Myanmar.
Shirin urged the British parliamentarians to play a leading role globally in resolving the crisis.
The speaker also highlighted the contributions of the four British-Bangladeshi parliamentarians and one House of Lords member of Bangladeshi origin in strengthening Bangladesh-UK friendship.
She invited all the MPs and the members of the House of Lords to visit Bangladesh during the historic 50 years of Bangladesh-UK diplomatic relations.
The dialogue, chaired and moderated by Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem, was attended by prominent British parliamentarians, including Lord Sheikh of Cornhill, vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh, Lord Evans of Watford, member of the House of Lords Committee on SME, Baroness Thornton, shadow spokesperson (equalities and women’s issues), Baroness Manzila Pola Uddin, the first British-Bangladeshi peer at the House of Lords, Stephen Twigg, secretary general of the CPA, and Sam Tarry MP, former shadow minister for transport.
British MPs and the members of the House of Lords lauded the outstanding economic progress of Bangladesh and acknowledged it as the new Asian tiger.
Later on the day, the Speaker visited the “Bangabandhu Centenary Peace Grove” established by the Bangladesh High Commission in collaboration with the London Borough of Brent at Gladstone Park, where one hundred saplings were planted to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
