Japan is time- tested friend of Bangladesh: PM
UNB :
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday expressed her firm belief that Japan will always stand by Bangladesh in building ‘Sonar Bangla’, the dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and turn it into a land of opportunity.
“We are confident that Japan will be on our side as it had been in the past. I am also confident that the people of Japan will always be on our side besides their government as they did in our need in the past,” she said.
The prime minister said this while speaking at a ceremony for conferring “Friends of Liberation War Honour” to four Japanese nationals at Akasaka Palace Guest House in Tokyo for their great contribution to the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
She hoped that the lasting friendship and enviable partnership over the past fifty years will be carried forward by the
new generation in the years to come.
“We never forget our friends,” she said. Hasina acknowledged the sustained economic cooperation and support of Japan in the country’s socio-economic pursuit which assisted it to become a developing country graduating from LDC status.
“We have dedicated ourselves to the dream of Bangabandhu of a true Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal) and to turn Bangladesh into a land of opportunity,” she said.
The Prime Minister said the people of Japan stood beside the suffering humanity of Bangladesh during its Independence War. She mentioned that Bangladesh had a modest list of 8 honourees whom it had honoured with ‘Friends of Liberation War Honour’ on March 27, 2012 and October 1, 2013.
“This evening we are in Tokyo to honour four more great friends of Bangladesh who stood by us, organised the moral and material support and ensured assistance,” she said.
She recalled with deep gratitude the support of the people of Japan which reconfirmed that the cause was right and could not be trampled.
“You heard our yearning for justice, honour, dignity and human rights. Your voice added strength to our voice and was magnified to the global community. You rallied with our cause and together raised a human citadel against a ruthless force. In the land of the rising sun, we see the image of a nation with dignity and humanity.”
