20 March 2023:    

Bangladesh High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa today hosted a Reception for South African Ministers and high Government officials, Ambassadors, High Commissioners and other diplomats, leading businessmen, business organisations and Bangladeshis living in South Africa and in the neighbouring countries. The kind presence of many dignitaries added the right pomp to the National Day celebration and reflected the warmth of the bilateral relations that continues to grow day by day. The Hon’ble Minister who graced the celebration as Chief Guest was His Excellency Zolile Burns Ncamashe, Hon’ble Deputy Minister, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Government of South Africa. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIRCO) were represented by a host of officers including Ambassador N N Losi, Chief of State Protocol (Additional Secretary), and Ms. Sindi Mququ, Chief Director: Central, South & South East Asia (Additional Secretary).

The Reception was hosted today for the 26 March falling in the Holy month of Ramadan. The National Day Reception was hosted in the Sheraton Pretoria Hotel in the capital Pretoria. The Reception began with playing of National Anthems of Bangladesh and South Africa. It was followed by speeches by High Commissioner Noor-E Helal Saifur Rahman and Hon’ble Minister Zolile Burns Ncamashe. They were joined in cake cutting by the Dean of the Asian Diplomatic Corps.

In his speech, High Commissioner Noor-E Helal Saifur Rahman paid his deepest tribute to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and noted that his bold proclamation of independence on March 26, 1971 led and inspired us to fight for our right place among the comity of nations as an independent state. He paid profound regards to the four leaders of great liberation war who successfully led the war in the absence of the Father of the Nation and also to the three million freedom fighters who made supreme sacrifices to give us an independent motherland as well as to the two hundred thousand brave women who lost their sanity for a noble cause like the freedom of their motherland.

The High Commissioner noted the march of Bangladesh under the charismatic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina towards becoming a real developed country - a smart Bangladesh by 2041. He mentioned that, despite the trouble caused by the Corona pandemic and the Ukraine war for last one year, under the very able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh economy was still on the very right path as the export crossed the startling 55 billion dollars mark for the first time in 2022 and the country again attained 22 billion dollar foreign remittance in 2022. He informed the audience that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first Metro train service of the country in Dhaka earlier this year while the Padma Bridge that was built with our own resources was inaugurated last June.

High Commissioner expressed his satisfaction over the continuous development of the bilateral relations with South Africa and expressed his optimism that the signing of a number of agreements now being discussed between the two countries would add expected impetus to the same in near future. Mentioning the recently hosted ‘Made in Bangladesh’ exhibition in Pretoria, he hoped that the exhibition would help in tapping the untapped trade potentials between the two countries. He sincerely thanked the Government and the friendly people of South Africa for hosting a good number of Bangladeshis for so many years.

Minister Zolile Burns Ncamashe, in his speech, highly praised the struggle and resilience of the people of Bangladesh in braving the natural calamities, turning the huge population into human resource, the trend setting success in women empowerment and wanted to learn from their experience. He expressed his happiness over the bilateral visits that have taken place in last two years and hoped that the next ‘Senior Officials Meeting’ between the two countries would bring further good news for mutual benefits. He urged for cooperation in agriculture for attaining food security in both the countries and wanted to get benefitted from the rich experience of Bangladesh in this area.

Referring to the call of Minister Shahriar Alam to raise the existing bilateral trade from US$ 300 million to US$ 1.00 billion by 2025, he also agreed on the need for boosting bilateral trade to the desired level and expected that the ‘Made in Bangladesh Exhibition’ concluded in February this year would help to attain the goal for mutual benefits. He noted the close cooperation between the two countries on various regional and international issues, expressed his optimism that the two countries would continue to cooperate and support each other in achieving common goals in the Non-alliance Movement, Commonwealth, G77, IORA and other international forums.

He very fondly remembered his Bangladesh visit in 2014 to learn the micro-credit mechanism as leader of a private sector delegation and expressed his desire to visit again for further lessons.

The Reception was attended by a large number of Bangladeshis coming from South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. In a segment of his speech dedicated to the expatriate Bangladeshis in Bangla, the High Commissioner noted that the Government was fully aware of the difficulties and challenges faced by them while living and working in this part of Africa and thanked them sincerely for sending huge foreign remittance back to Bangladesh braving all the challenges. He requested them to remain united, abide by local rules and culture and attached to the High omission in rain and shine.

He thanked all present, especially the Minister and South African high officials. The guests were entertained with a sumptuous luncheon which included homemade delicacies such as beef bhuna, rosgolla and chamcham.