UK politicians to deepen engagements with Bangladesh

British politicians have held out assurances that they would persuade both their government and businesses to “deepen and widen” their engagement with Bangladesh “as friends,” the foreign ministry has said.

They also expressed their “keenness” to work with Bangladesh and disseminate its “lesser known success stories” among their peers and colleagues.

The assurance came when foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali met them during his stopover in London on Monday evening on his way to Dhaka after attending the UN General Assembly in New York, the statement said on Thursday.

President of the UK Council for International Student Affairs Lord Bilimoria, Vice-Chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Bangladesh Lord Sheikh and Mark Field MP, Chair of the APPG British Curry Industry Paul Scully MP and Vice Chair APPG on Bangladesh, Chair of APPG on British Hindus Bob Blackman MP and Chair of the British Transport Police Authority Esther McVey were present at the meeting, among others.

Bangladesh's Acting High Commissioner in London Khondker M. Talha was also present.

The foreign minister briefed them about Bangladesh’s socio-economic progress and called for “greater participation” of the UK in the country’s development initiatives.

He also reiterated the government's ‘zero tolerance' policy towards all sorts of violent extremism and terrorism. He explained that these miscreants used ‘allegiance of convenience' to gain global attention.

It was his view that “a certain vested interest” group was active in trying to disrupt the democratic process and socio-economic progress of Bangladesh.

The British politicians were of the opinion that there were huge areas, including education, skill development, security, services, engineering and IT where both countries could benefit through greater collaboration.

To this end, they also expressed a desire to visit Bangladesh, which the foreign minister welcomed.

They also discussed the need for “realigning” DFID assistance “to ensure value for money and tangible results” in line with the priorities set by Bangladesh government in its 7th five-year plan.