Bangladesh consul general meets Ontario lieutenant governor

Bangladesh Consul General in Toronto Nayem Uddin Ahmed has met Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the lieutenant governor of Ontario.

During the meeting at Queen’s Park, Dowdeswell conveyed her thanks for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for sheltering the Rohingya and providing them with humanitarian support. 

Ahmed also thanked the Canadian government for its support in helping the Rohingya, forcibly displaced from Myanmar’s Rakhine province, said the consulate in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Dowdeswell represents Queen Elizabeth II in the Ontario province under Canada’s constitutional monarchy.

Ahmed conveyed to her greetings on behalf of the prime minister and foreign minister of Bangladesh and highlighted major economic achievements of the government.   

Bangladesh crossed 15 other national GDPs in the world within a span of five years, he said. In the last 10 years, per capita increased from $598 to $1751 and life expectancy increased from 66.5 years to 72.7 years, Ahmed told Dowdeswell.

Dowdeswell then asked: “What is the main cause of such great development in Bangladesh?”

“Bangladesh is most fortunate to have the daughter of the Father of the Nation as the head of the government,” replied the consul general. Prime Minister Hasina has recently returned to the helm of power for a third consecutive term, he added.

“The people of Bangladesh are fortunate to have a lady prime minister, that too, the daughter of the Father of the Nation,” Dowdeswell was quoted in the statement as saying.

Ahmed then urged cooperation from Canada for deportation of Nur Chowdhury, the self-proclaimed killer of Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangladesh government has definite information that Nur Chowdhury was living in the greater Toronto area, he told the lieutenant governor.

Bangladesh and Canada share a long history of relations. Hasina visited Canada in 2016 and 2018 on the invitations of her counterpart Justin Trudeau.

Both the governments are closely engaged through regular Foreign Office Consultations, the fifth edition of which is due to be held in Ottawa.

Dowdeswell asked Ahmed about the functions of the Bangladesh Consul General in Toronto which began its operations in December last year in keeping with the a commitment made to the Bangladeshis residing in that area.

They also discussed trade and investment, the Bangladesh diaspora and its contribution to the Canadian economy, and prospect of allowing more Bangladeshi students to study in the country.