Cameron ‘proud’ of Bangladesh, says ‘sorry’ for not visiting as prime minister

Former British prime minister David Cameron has apologised for not being able to visit Bangladesh during his six-year tenure, but says he has many reasons to be “proud” of the country.

He has said he made it a “priority” to visit Bangladesh when he is no longer prime minister.

“I am delighted to be here. I am proud to be here for many reasons,” he said, speaking before a select group of audience in Dhaka before leaving on Thursday, ending a less than 24-hour visit.

“I am sorry I did not manage to visit Bangladesh as prime minister,” he said at the beginning of the talk.

In the end he once again “apologised” for that and said his successor Theresa May is also “as enthusiastic as I am” in the British-Bangladesh relations.

Cameron, who resigned as prime minister last year after Brexit voting, met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, visited a garment factory inside Dhaka, where the British aid has a project, and also attended a closed-door roundtable of the International Growth Centre during his visit.

The Growth Centre is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science and in partnership with the University of Oxford, it works to promote sustainable growth in developing countries, based on 'high quality' research.

Cameron is the chair of a commission that was launched in March under this Growth Centre.

The British Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised the event at a hotel where he spoke before the diverse group including Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.

He highly praised Bangladesh’s development successes and rattled off a list of what made him proud about Bangladesh.

“I am immensely proud of the contribution half a million British-Bangladeshis have made to our economy, society, music, and culture. They enrich Britain and make it a better and stronger country,” he said.

“British-Bangladeshis are participating in every aspect of our national life including political life."

He said Bangladesh is also a “shining example” of how aid can be used for lifting poverty and ensuring better health and education for the people.

“To those who say aid does not work I would say 'come to Bangladesh and see what this has done',” he said, giving examples of how British aid benefitted people.

But he said the next stage of Bangladesh’s development would involve massive investment in infrastructure, huge investment of energy as business continues to grow and also investments in skills and professional education.

And for that, he said Britain would remain as a partner of Bangladesh as always even after the Brexit, as he sought to allay concerns about the uncertainty once the UK leaves the European Union.

He said they would be working “even harder” with the friends like Bangladesh.

He identified ensuring high quality democracy, fighting corruption and terrorism as three challenges the world is currently facing.