Salma Ataullahjan, Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Upper House of the Canadian Parliament, lauded the development of Bangladesh under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Dr Hasan Mahmud, who is visiting Canada, met Senator Salma Ataullahjan at the Hotel Holiday Inn in Toronto on Friday afternoon (local time).

Referring to her visits to Bangladesh, the senator said  the country’s success in socio-economic development, especially women’s empowerment, population growth control, fundamentalism-militancy suppression and communal harmony is impressive.

She also praised Sheikh Hasina for providing shelter to around 1.3 lakh Rohingya refugees and agreed on a permanent solution to the problem by repatriating the refugees to Myanmar.

The Information Minister highlighted importance of political stability for development and progress of Bangladesh. Senator Ataullahjan informed the minister of her plan to visit Bangladesh again in the first of the next year.

Earlier, Dr Hasan Mahmud met  Canada Parliament’s Standing Committee on Immigration and Citizenship Chairperson Salma Zahid MP.

Dr Hasan Mahmud meets Canadian MP Salma Zahid 

In the meeting held at her residential office in Toronto’s Scarborough area, the minister discussed the relocation of Canada’s visa office for Bangladeshis to Dhaka and inclusion of Bangladeshi students in Canada’s Student Direct Stream (SDS).

Expressing her initiative to this end, MP Salma Zahid said she has already discussed  the issues with Canada’s Immigration Minister and Bangladesh High Commissioner  and efforts are underway in this regard.

At that time, they expressed satisfaction over all-time high trade between the two countries is all-time high and signing of the ‘Foreign Investment Protection Agreement’ to increase Canadian investment in Bangladesh.

In the meeting, MP Salma Zahid praised the development and progress of Bangladesh in economic and social sectors under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina and expressed hope that this trend will continue through political stability.

High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Canada Khalilur Rahman attended the meeting.