প্রকাশ: 31/01/2022
Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Jeremy Bruer has
said Bangladesh is a country with an international outlook that has also
achieved “extraordinary and sustained” economic growth.
“We want to see mutually beneficial trade continue to grow
as our economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he wrote in an article
marking 50 the years of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Australia.
It was on this day (January 31) 50 years ago that Australia’s
Foreign Minister Nigel Bowen announced that Australia had recognised the
government led by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the
government of the new state of Bangladesh.
Whilst the announcement was made on January 31, the
Australian cabinet made the decision to recognise Bangladesh some days earlier
on January 25 itself.
In his article written marking the 50 years of diplomatic
relations, the High Commissioner said Bangladesh is a major contributor to
international peacekeeping efforts and a key voice for countries vulnerable to
the effects of climate change.
He said trade between Australia and Bangladesh has grown by
550 per cent over the last decade. “By 2019-20, our two-way trade in goods and
services reached nearly AUD 2.6 billion.”
High Commissioner Bruer said Australia is proud to count
itself as a close friend of Bangladesh. “Those of us who have had the privilege
to work for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are reminded
of our close history with Bangladesh and Bengal each time we enter our
diplomatic headquarters in Canberra, the RG Casey Building.”
As the two countries celebrate 50 years of diplomatic
relations, the High Commissioner particularly acknowledged the people-to-people
links that have made the relationship “so strong, warm and enduring”.
Quoting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, he said,
“With such enormous goodwill between us, I hold much hope for the years ahead.”
As many readers would know, the High Commissioner said,
Richard Casey was Governor of Bengal from 1944 to 1946. He also served as
Australia’s Foreign Minister and Governor General.
“When he was Governor of Bengal, his secretary was James
Lawrence Allen, who was an Australian born in British India and spoke Bangla
and Urdu. On this day 50 years ago, JL Allen became the head of our inaugural
diplomatic mission in an independent Bangladesh.”
The High Commissioner mentioned that Australia was not a
passive bystander to the liberation struggle and is proud to be one of the
first countries to have recognised Bangladesh’s independence.
During the liberation struggle Australia’s Prime Minister,
William McMahon, wrote to General Yahya Khan four times urging a political
settlement based upon negotiation with the Awami League and its leaders,
particularly Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The fourth letter was written after McMahon’s meeting with
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Washington DC on 4 November 1971.
“On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic
relations we commemorate the long and arduous struggle for Bangladesh’s
independence. Our thoughts are with all the soldiers, men, women, and children
who suffered during the liberation,” the envoy wrote.
He remembered the contribution of Dutch-Australian William A
S Ouderland, who fought in the Liberation War and was the only foreigner to have
been awarded fourth-highest gallantry award, the Bir Pratik, by the Bangladesh
government.
Ouderland organised and trained the guerrilla fighters of
the Mukti Bahini and provided them with food and shelter and medicine.
The High Commissioner also acknowledged Australian Dr
Geoffrey Davis who in 1972, at the request of WHO and International Planned
Parenthood Federation, travelled to Bangladesh to support the hundreds of
thousands of Birangonas. “This is a stark reminder of the scale of the suffering
and the civilian cost of the war.”
The envoy said, “While we remember the struggle and the
fallen, we also take stock of how much has been achieved in these past 50 years
and look towards the future.”
When Australia recognized Bangladesh and its government led
by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Foreign Minister Bowen noted that ‘…as a
country of 75 million people bordering the Indian Ocean, Bangladesh was likely
to play an increasingly important part in the affairs of South and South East
Asia.’
“Perhaps it would be fair to say that, like so many people
at that time, Bowen might have also underestimated Bangladesh. Over the past 50 years Bangladesh has
demonstrated that its role in international affairs extends well beyond our
shared Indo-Pacific region,” said the High Commissioner.
In September 2021, the two countries signed a new Trade and
Investment Framework Arrangement (TIFA).
Under the TIFA the two countries look forward to exploring
how their governments can work together to boost the recovery of the private
sector and lead economic growth.
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭