Nepal assures Bangladesh of support in reviving SAARC

Acting Speaker of the National Parliament Barrister Kaiser Kamal and Nepal's Ambassador to Bangladesh Ghanshyam Bhandari have agreed on the need to reactivate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). They expressed this optimism during a courtesy meeting at the Acting Speaker's office on Wednesday (July 29).

During the talks, Acting Speaker Kaiser Kamal recalled that Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman had established SAARC to increase mutual cooperation for the desired development of South Asian countries. He said the opportunity to achieve that goal still remains by making the organisation functional again and called on Nepal to play a more active role in this regard. In response, the Nepalese ambassador expressed agreement.

Kaiser Kamal thanked Nepal's Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal for the formation of a Bangladesh-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group in Nepal's Federal Parliament. He expressed hope that a similar friendship group would soon be formed in Bangladesh's Parliament, which would create opportunities to strengthen parliamentary diplomacy, exchange mutual parliamentary visits, share experiences on law-making and governance, and increase cooperation in bilateral and international forums.

Referring to the potential for importing electricity from Nepal, the Acting Speaker said both countries could utilise opportunities to expand discussions in areas of mutual interest such as education, culture, youth and public relations, water resources, energy, regional connectivity, trade and climate change.

During the meeting, Ambassador Ghanshyam Bhandari praised Bangladesh's new journey under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and expressed his country's interest in working more closely with the current democratic government. Praising Bangladesh's progress in graduating from LDC status to a developing country, he expressed confidence that Bangladesh would achieve the UN's LDC graduation within the stipulated timeframe.

Also present at the meeting were Nepal Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Pratik Karki and National Parliament Secretariat Secretary Barrister Md Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan.