Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
said on Monday , the South Asian nations have to fight against poverty jointly
along with maintaining good and harmonious relations for their overall
development.
"We have to make concerted efforts with our respective resources to fight
against poverty as it is the main enemy in the Asian region," she said
while talking to journalists on board in an air flight on her way back home
from Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan.
The Bangladesh's Premier was on a four- day state visit to Bhutan from November
6 with the invitation of her Bhutanese counterpart Lyonchen Jigmi Y Thinley.
Describing her visit in the Himalayans state of Bhutan as fruitful, she said,
it would play an important role to further enhancing bilateral relations
between Bangladesh and Bhutan that recognized Bangladesh as an independent
state immediately after the country's War of Liberation.
Sheikh Hasina said, Bhutan is the founding member of SAARC and we have the
scope to learn many things from each other's.
A 19-point joint statement, issued at the end of the landmark tour, called the visit, the first by Sheikh Hasina since her assumption of office following the December 29, 2008, general elections to a South Asian country, a milestone in the Bangladesh and Bhutan relationship expecting it to usher in a new era of bilateral cooperation.
Laying emphasize on the
relevance of people-to-people contact to further strengthening the existing
friendly relations between the two countries, she said, "We have already
talked to India to establish road links with Bhutan and India responded
positively".
She said, with the establishment of road connectivity with Bhutan, the two
countries would be benefited in terms of expansion of trade and business and
increasing people to people contact.
When asked about joint efforts of generating hydro- electricity, she said,
during the bilateral talks with her Bhutanese counterpart, the matters were
come up in the discussion.
We have to take environmental consequences into consideration while taking any
projects, she said adding that there was a prospect of buying electricity from
Bhutan.
About the trade agreement signed between Bangladesh and Bhutan, the Prime
Minister said the agreement will contribute immensely towards the prosperity
and well-being of people.
A 19-point joint statement, issued at the end of the landmark tour, called the visit, the first by Sheikh Hasina since her assumption of office following the December 29, 2008, general elections to a South Asian country, a milestone in the Bangladesh and Bhutan relationship expecting it to usher in a new era of bilateral cooperation.