Shawdesh Desk:

Newly appointed British high commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke on Monday said that her country was keen to enhance the bilateral trade and investment relationship with Bangladesh.

The UK high commissioner said this while paying a courtesy call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the latter’s official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka.

PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told reporters that during the meeting bilateral relations, security, climate change, Rohingya and regional issues came up for discussion.

They both expressed satisfaction over the ongoing bilateral relations and cooperation, Ihsanul said.

Sarah Cooke said the UK would continue to cooperate with Bangladesh in its development efforts.

Britain will particularly continue to support the education of girls in Bangladesh, the envoy was quoted as telling the PM.

The new high commissioner put emphasis on imparting the skills development training to the displaced Rohingya people so that they could be re-employed after their repatriation.

Cooke said they wanted a free, fair and peaceful election to be held in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is due to hold its next general elections by January next year.

In this context, the prime minister said that they had to struggle for long 21 years (from 1975 to 1996) for restoration of democracy in the country.

Following the victory of BNP-Jamaat alliance in the 2001 general election, they celebrated the win unleashing a reign of terrors, killing hundreds of people, raping women and looting villages across the country, said PM Hasina.

‘We have established freedom of expression and opened the media to the private sector,’ she was quoted as saying.