Dhaka Tribune(Bangladesh), March 18, 2024

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the UnitedNations Development Program (UNDP) to make an effort to raise a largerinternational funds for the support of the Rohingya people.

She made the call at a meeting with the visiting UNDPgoodwill ambassador and Crown Princess of Sweden Victoria at a city hotel here.

PM’s speech writer Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters afterthe meeting.

The prime minister said Bangladesh had given shelter toforcibly displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar on humanitarian grounds and arrangedimproved accommodation for them in Bhashanchar, ensuring many facilities forthem. Now some one lakh Rohingya can reside there in Bhashanchar, she added.

She sought assistance from the UNDP to relocate moreRohingyas to Bhashanchar.

Princess Victoria arrived in Dhaka on Monday on a four-dayvisit to Bangladesh during which she will tour Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazarand Bhashanchar.

Bilateral and multilateral issues including climate changecame up for discussion during the meeting with the PM.

The princes said there is a huge scope to deepen thebilateral relations between Sweden and Bangladesh.

She expressed her optimism for strengthening the bilateralties between the two countries specially in trade, business and investment.

The Bangladesh prime minister urged the Swedish businessesto make investment in Bangladesh particularly in special economic zones.

The PM said Bangladesh is one of the worst victims ofclimate change. Bangladesh’s contribution to carbon emission is negligible butthe country is badly affected. Bangladesh faces different natural calamitieslike floods and cyclones due to climate changes, she said.

About the local climate adaptation and mitigation programs,she said Bangladesh formed a climate trust fund to protect the local communityand their livelihood.

The PM said her government’s main goal is povertyalleviation as it has already reduced the poverty rate to 18.7% from 41% andthe extreme poverty rate to 5.6% from 25.1%.

She said the government has been providing homeless peoplewith free cyclone-resistant houses throughout the country so that there will beno homeless people in Bangladesh

She said her government constructed cyclone shelter centreson the coastal areas.

Sheikh Hasina recalled her first visit to Sweden in 1969when her husband was there for study.