March 28, 2024, 10:22 pm


Shawkat Ali Khan

Published:
2021-06-02 18:20:37 BdST

Hasina an epitome of statesmanship


Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken centre stage in the global arena as Bangladesh has made tremendous achievements in all fronts under her dynamic and prudent leadership.

The world leaders praised her for playing significant roles in managing crisis, attaining economic growth, achieving millennium development goal, reducing poverty and curbing militancy with iron fist.

As a global leader, Sheikh Hasina has been maintaining healthy relations with all the countries in the world as part of Bangladesh’s foreign policy ‘Friendship to all, malice to none.’

With limited resources, her foresighted decisions saved lives and livelihood of thousands of people amid the Covid-19 pandemic that wreaked havoc in many countries across the globe.

Bangladesh has already started inoculating its people due to her ‘vaccine diplomacy’ while many countries are struggling hard to handle the situation caused by the deadly bug.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been named among the top three inspirational women leaders who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership during corona pandemic in the Commonwealth.

In a special announcement ahead of the International Women's Day 2021, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland QC bracketed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina along with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley to have demonstrated extraordinary leadership during the pandemic.

Apart from these, she has been attending international summits and placing important pro-people suggestions, which have been acclaimed highly by the global leaders.

Diplomatic sources say that besides tackling the corona crisis, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is vocal on other vital global issues.

She has been attending summits virtually on a regular basis.

Virtually attending P4G Summit on May 30, Sheikh Hasina placed three suggestions and called for collective efforts and action-oriented approach for building greener future for the next generation.

Addressing a roundtable of the Asia Regional Commonwealth Heads of Government convened by the Prince of Wales Charles Philip Arthur George, Bangladesh premier said the Commonwealth can play a leading role in pursuing a sustainable and nature-based solution to prosperous future, calling for a collective fight to save the planet from the climate vulnerabilities.

“I strongly believe that Commonwealth can play a pivotal role towards sustainable and nature-based solutions for prosperous future,” she said.

At the invitation of American President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also put forward four suggestions to global leaders to fight climate change challenges with a strong collective response.

Joe Biden invited 40 world leaders, including Sheikh Hasina, to join the virtual Summit to galvanize efforts by major economies to tackle the climate crisis.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for ensuring the annual target of 100 billion US dollars which should be balanced 50:50 between adaptation and mitigation with special attention to the vulnerable communities.

Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen opines that Sheikh Hasina has been leading from the front to tackle the unprecedented crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken Bangladesh to a new height in diplomacy. Resolving disputes through peaceful manner, setting a milestone of opening regional connectivity, taking a lead of climate vulnerable countries and providing shelter to millions of forcefully displaced Rohingyas are parts of her farsighted leadership,” he said.

He said global leaders also lauded Sheikh Hasina marking Bangladesh’s 50th year of independence and birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Whenever Bangladeshi envoys meet world leaders, they are receiving appraisal from them due to the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” he said.

Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City State, lauded Sheikh Hasina's generosity in providing shelter and continued assistance to the forcibly displaced Rohingyas when Bangladesh’s newly-appointed Ambassador Mustafizur Rahman and envoys from eight other countries presented credentials to him at a ceremony at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City.

Recalling his meeting with the Prime Minister at Vatican City in 2018, Pope also lauded her visionary leadership in advancing the remarkable development of Bangladesh over the last decade.

Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO), has highly appreciated the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in attaining food security for 165 million people of Bangladesh despite being one of the top 10 most populous countries in the world.

“We can learn a lot from Bangladesh because their solutions are very economic, easy to adapt,” said the FAO Director-General.

He shared his deep appreciation during a ceremony marking the presentation of Letter of Credence by Md Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh Ambassador to Italy, accrediting him as the Permanent Representative to FAO held in Rome recently.

Sheikh Hasina, also the mother of humanity, recently took the charge of D-8 chairmanship which added another feather on her cap.

Sheikh Hasina, a founding member of the organization, has taken over the charge for the second time for the next two years of D-8 countries --- Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.

Virtually attending a High-Level Meeting on the 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women held on the sidelines of the 75th UN General Assembly, Sheikh Hasina pledged to increase women’s participation in the workforce to 50-50 by 2041 and called for protecting their job in the context of corona pandemic.

She also urged the international community to renew its commitments and enhance efforts to ensure women’s equality, empowerment and advancement.

The Prime Minister also called for focusing on ‘future sustainability’ while making investment as she placed a four-point proposal to save the planet from the adverse impacts of climate change.

Officials of the foreign ministry say that when the world was suffering badly for inventing the corona vaccine, the Bangladesh premier played a vital role by contributing some 50,000 US dollars to Global Citizen fund for supporting the development and deployment of Covid-19 vaccines in an equitable manner for all those in need.

She also urged the world community to ensure vaccine for all as Bangladesh believes in justice and equality.

As part of Sheikh Hasina’s diplomatic relations with neighbours, Bangladesh agreed for a currency swap with Sri Lanka.

Marking the move, India lauded Bangladesh for its currency swap with Sri Lanka for the first time in its history.

The Indian media said Bangladesh started to showcase its economic rise and forge deeper ties with its neighbours.

The $200 million currency swap is a part of larger scheme of foreign exchange swaps amounting to $500 million.

The Hindu wrote that Bangladesh cleared a $200 million currency swap facility for Sri Lanka, to help boost its economy, becoming the first South Asian country to extend crucial financial assistance to the island nation this year.

Indian Express, an online newspaper, explained that the unlikely participation of Bangladesh in the currency swap is a result of its growing economy.

In extension, Dhaka's medical assistance to India's Covid-19 fight marks the rise of a new tiger in the Asian economy, said the online newspaper The Print.

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