Acting Speaker Barrister Kayser Kamal and Nepal's Ambassador to Bangladesh Ghanshyam Bhandari on Wednesday expressed optimism that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) could be revitalised to advance the region's shared development goals.
The two leaders voiced their hope during the ambassador's courtesy call on the Acting Speaker at his office in the Jatiya Sangsad, according to a press release.
Kayser said SAARC, founded on the vision of late President Ziaur Rahman, still has the potential to play a meaningful role in promoting regional cooperation and development if member states work together to make the organisation functional again.
Welcoming the formation of the Bangladesh-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group in Nepal's Federal Parliament, Kayser thanked Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal for the initiative.
He expressed hope that the Jatiya Sangsad would soon establish a Bangladesh-Nepal Parliamentary Friendship Group to facilitate exchanges on issues of mutual interest.
Kayser said an active parliamentary friendship group would strengthen parliamentary diplomacy, deepen bilateral relations, promote exchanges of parliamentary delegations, facilitate the sharing of legislative and governance experiences, and expand cooperation on issues of common interest in international forums.
Referring to Bangladesh's import of electricity from Nepal, he said the two countries have considerable scope to broaden cooperation in education, culture, youth exchanges, people-to-people contacts, water resources, energy, regional connectivity, trade and climate action.
Ghanshyam praised Bangladesh's new journey under the leadership of Tarique Rahman and reaffirmed Nepal's commitment to strengthening cooperation with the country's democratic government.
He also commended Bangladesh's progress on various development indicators following its graduation from the least developed country (LDC) category and expressed confidence that the country would successfully complete the UN's LDC graduation process within the stipulated timeframe.