Bangladesh is the champion of economic development and women empowerment: Australian High Commissioner

"You are the champion of economic development and women empowerment," the Australian high commissioner said this when she paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Wednesday morning. After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.

Ms Niblett also highly praised Bangladesh's economic growth under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and said Australia is looking forward to further strengthening bilateral cooperation with Bangladesh in different sectors.

"We want to further consolidate our cooperation with Bangladesh in different sectors, particularly energy and education," she said.

The Australian high commissioner hailed the performance of Bangladesh cricket team and said a memorandum of understanding on sports sector cooperation between the two countries is expected to be signed soon.

Mentioning again terrorism as a global problem, the prime minister said her government has been creating mass awareness against terrorism and militancy.

"We are creating mass awareness against terrorism and militancy by involving the people of all strata including religious leaders and teachers ... we are getting tremendous response from the people to this end," she said.

Sheikh Hasina also said that she had already arranged video conference with the cross section people of the 64 districts of the country to mobilize public opinion against terrorism and militancy.

The premier expressed Bangladesh's interest in greater collaboration with Australia in the fields of trade, investment, education, sports and culture.

"We like to see greater collaboration with Australia in matters related to trade, investment, education, sports and culture".

Elaborating various steps of her government for the development of the womenfolk, the premier said no country could achieve its desired progress leaving out the women, the half of the total population, from the development process.

Sheikh Hasina said success of women is everywhere in Bangladesh and they are now at an equal level along with their male partners in education, games and sports and creative works.

"The girls are doing better in the field of education in comparison with boys," she said. She said 30 percent seats in the local government bodies like Union, Upazila, Municipality and City Corporations have been kept reserved for the women.

In this regard, she mentioned that the country's women are now in very high position in all sectors like administration, judiciary, education, administration, as well as in the armed forces and in law-enforcement agencies.

The prime minister expressed satisfaction over the excellent bilateral ties established date back to 1972 and Australia is the first OECD (organization for economic cooperation and development) country to recognise Bangladesh as an independent state.

She also recalled the invaluable contribution of the Australian government and the people to Bangladesh's war of liberation in 1971.