The message of the Ambassador
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Ambassador Enamul Kabir
On the occasion of the 43rd Anniversary of the Independence and National Day of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, I convey my warm greetings to the government and the friendly people of the Republic of Korea. I also convey my heartiest congratulations to my fellow Bangladesh citizens living in this country.
As we celebrate this auspicious day, we remember with profound respect the founding Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. We pay our deepest homage to the 3 million martyrs of the War of Liberation and to the valiant freedom fighters who risked their lives to achieve independence of the country and turn its condition in a way that we could live in freedom, with dignity and honor.
During the last 43 years, we have made significant progresses in attaining the objectives that were envisioned at the time of the creation of the country. Bangladesh today is an open democracy that upholds the freedom and dignity of all its citizens. Our economy is growing steadily at the rate of around 6 percent for last two decades. Starting with a war ravaged country virtually having no national resources, we had walked a long way forward in these years when the size of GDP in PPP terms grew to present level of 306 billion US$ and the same would stand at 458 billion US$ by 2017, as IMF estimates.
The gradual economic development made it possible for the country to provide better education to our children, more jobs to our youths, and improved healthcare and a decent life for all our citizens. Social indicators have seen enormous positive changes e.g. life expectancy at birth increased from 47 in 1972 to 70 at present, infant mortality rate came down from 169 to 37 in last 20 years, absolute poverty reduced by 30% in last 20 years, school enrolment is more than 90%, high global ranking in gender equality.
Economic development as well as the improvement of gender equality and social justice have leapfrogged during the current Government under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has been leading the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ campaign with a view to overhauling the economy to turn Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021 and to high income country by the year 2041.
During the same time, Bangladesh has established itself as a responsible member of the international community. Bangladesh remains at the forefront of global efforts in upholding international peace and stability, most notably through its active participation in the UN peacekeeping and peace building missions worldwide as the top troops contributing country. Bangladesh has made commendable transition from a predominantly aid-dependent economy to a trading nation, with the share of aid as a percentage of GDP coming down from about 6% in the 1980s to less than 2% lately; Bangladesh has become the second largest exporter of apparels in the world behind China; our shipbuilding, footwear, pharmaceuticals, ICT and other non-traditional exports are showing encouraging signs; achieving self-sufficiency in food grains is at our door step; our economy demonstrated impressive resilience in the face of multiple global and financial crises. With expanding domestic market and favourable factors of production, Bangladesh offers vast opportunities for investment and trading.
Since our independence, Korea has been a trusted friend of Bangladesh. Our bilateral relations are shaped up primarily by political goodwill, commonality of views, commitment for peace, and economic and commercial interests. Our two countries maintain strong cooperation in areas of trade and investment, development cooperation and technology transfer, employment and human resource development, education and cultural exchange. Annual trade volume has been growing gradually and is now nearing 2 billion USD. Korea is a significant investor in Bangladesh. Since beginning of 1990s, Korea emerged as an important development partner of Bangladesh. My country is a partner country of Korea’s Employment Permit System. At present more than 9000 Bangladeshi workers are working in Korean SMEs.
In international plane, we share common views in many issues including climate change, peace and stability, and nuclear non-proliferation. Last year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Korea and visits of several numbers of cultural troupes were arranged by both sides.
I express my deep appreciation and gratitude to the government and the people of Korea for their strong support in advancing Bangladesh-Korea relations. As ambassador of Bangladesh, I will make every effort to strengthen our bilateral ties. I would like to see trade and investment relations between our two countries flourish to its true potential and hope that the Korean entrepreneurs and investors will look more closely to the developments of Bangladesh and decide to tap the opportunity of this fast-growing economy.
Long live Bangladesh-Korea friendship.