Speech delivered on September 23, 2011 at the Embassy at a Reunion of Peace Corps Volunteers at the Embassy
Ladies and Gentlemen:
A very hearty welcome to Bangladesh Embassy. I am honored to have this opportunity of receiving so many friends and well-wishers of Bangladesh. I understand you have a full schedule and appreciate it very much that you have taken out time to come and visit the Embassy. I hope, this is an opportunity to reconnect the old ties and hopefully we will be able to sustain it in some form.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The United States has been a leader. This leadership has not been limited to few visionaries. The leadership has expanded horizontally and incorporated the individual’s willingness to contribute and help fellow human beings who are at a less advantageous situation. The idea of reaching out to the other parts of the world came from the visionary leadership of President John F. Kennedy. It was essentially an idea of serving the developing countries to promote peace and by living and working there as Peace Corp volunteers. From that vision grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. No wonder it has left distinct mark of achievements around the world.
Our friends under Peace Corp program are indeed leaders who significantly influenced the lives of many people. I cannot think of any better way through which one can contribute and make one’s life so meaningful. I know the people whose lives you have touched remain grateful to you. I also know that you do take pride in what you have done as Peace Corp Volunteers. I know some of the volunteers continued their work in Bangladesh. As one of the volunteers Troy Beckman said that living in Bangladesh was a great experience and I sometimes wish I could go back to those days. In fact he never left Bangladesh after finishing up Peace Corp and is now working in Dhaka. Another Peace Corp volunteer Ambassador Dan Mozena, though he worked in other part of the world along with his wife, is going to Bangladesh as the next US Ambassador to Bangladesh, of course subject to confirmation by the US Senate.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The images of the 60s that we have just seen belong to a different time of our history. These images convey very strongly your association with our people. But as you know that was also a time of turbulence when our people were engaged in relentless struggle for political and economic emancipation. Post 1971, many of you have seen the activities of a young nation, a nation in the making, a country trying to take its rightful place in the comity of nations. There have been ups and downs, but Bangladesh despite the odds never gave up on their dreams to be a democratic country. Today, we are a country of 150 million people, and we are working under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to transform Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021. Vision 2021 – as we call it – aims at fulfilling the dreams of those who laid down their lives in our epic struggle for independence in 1971. In this journey, we seek support from our friends and allies particularly from the US.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Vision 2021 is a journey to transform the political, social and economic landscape of the country. We have taken concrete steps to that end. Bangladesh is a democracy with the Parliament acting as the center of all activities. The Parliamentary Standing Committees are more proactive than before. The Parliamentarians are performing other important work. For instance, the work of a high level parliamentary group contributed to the restoration of the secular characteristics of the Constitution to ensure fundamental human rights, protect human dignity and uphold social justice. The Government has placed highest priority on ensuring personal integrity of its citizens, eliminating all sorts of discrimination, providing access to free and fair trial, creating an environment of civil liberty, and protecting political rights. Election commission, the key institution for ensuring people’s democratic right to vote, is working independently. The Commission’s independent character has already been proven as it succeeded in holding free and fair elections at various tiers of local Government including Upazilla and municipal corporations. The judiciary is working free of influence from the executive and has given many landmark verdicts on issues of national concerns, notably, some against the Government. Media – electronic as well as print – is enjoying full freedom and has evolved as a hub of animated debate on important national issues. Digitization of public offices and enactment of rights to information act have enhanced manifold the transparency and accountability of the Government machineries.
In the field of socio-economic development, Bangladesh today is poised for a takeoff. Despite global economic downturn, Bangladesh has shown resilience to maintain a steady GDP growth rate of 6% over the last five years. We are consistently investing in our human capital. Digitization and connectivity—a visionary initiative of the current leadership has helped the younger generation to compete globally. Along with that women’s all round empowerment in a Muslim majority society has a synergistic effect on our economic growth. All these factors, we are confident, will help accelerating our growth performance to a double-digit figure in 2017 and lead us to achieve vision 2021.
On the human development front Bangladesh has set many examples for the developing countries. Bangladesh has witnessed significant improvements in a variety of social indicators including child mortality, health and nutrition, education, poverty alleviation and expansion of electronic communications services throughout the country. We are well on course to meet MDGs for poverty alleviation, infant and child mortality by 2015 and have already met the MDG for gender parity in primary and secondary schooling. The prevalence of poverty, which was 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, has today gone down to 31.5 percent. Our achievements are lauded by International Community. Last year, our Prime Minister had received a UN award for our outstanding achievements in the Millennium Development Goals.
Bangladesh has been making distinct progress in many areas and we take pride in what we have achieved. I would request you to visit Bangladesh and see the progress we have been making in various sectors.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have a great sense of accomplishment for what we have achieved so far but we are not oblivious to the daunting challenges. Melanie Jacobs who served as Peace Corp Volunteer in Bangladesh in 1998 posed a question in the Peace Corp Web Directory: “Is Bangladesh going to disappear beneath the Ocean?” I think that’s a genuine concern and we appreciate it very much that our friends share the concern. Scientific research shows that one-meter rise in the sea level may inundate 15% of Bangladesh’s land area. This is a matter of grave concern for a country of 144 thousand square kilometer with 150 million people. To face such a mammoth challenge, we need collective action with all the countries standing on a common platform. Your voice, the voice of a friend, can play an important role.
I hope today’s get together will not end as we leave this auditorium. As we take the journey down the memory lane, let us also try to find a way to remain engaged and be part of what we are trying to achieve as nation.
I once again thank you.