Bangladesh donates $1 million to IOM's emergency fund

Bangladesh has donated $1 million to the International Organization of Migration’s (IOM) emergency fund.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 5 March 2015, 07:44 AM
Updated : 5 March 2015, 07:44 AM

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali handed over the cheque to Director General William Lacy Swing while visiting the IOM headquarters on Wednesday at Geneva.

He commended the role of IOM in “promoting” migration around the world, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The minister also thanked IOM for helping migrants in crisis situation, particularly for the support rendered to Bangladesh during the urgent repatriation of 17,410 Bangladeshis from Egypt and Tunisia.

The Director General thanked the minister for the contribution and said it symbolised “the growing partnership” between IOM and Bangladesh.

He applauded the “active and substantive role” Bangladesh was playing in advancing role and rights of migrants in international forums.

“The contribution is also an example of burden sharing by a developing country,” he said.

The foreign minister is on a four-day visit to Geneva beginning from March 3.

He spoke at the High Level segment of the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council, first after Bangladesh was elected as a member of this top UN human rights body in last year October.

He also met with the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein at his office and invited him to visit Bangladesh that the foreign ministry said he readily accepted.