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Russia, Bangladesh ties dynamic: Putin


Published : 06 Feb 2020 09:06 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 08:05 PM

Russian President Vladimir Putin has received the new Ambassador of Bangladesh Kamrul Ahsan and said the Moscow-Dhaka ties are ‘quite dynamic’. “Trade is up, and a major project to build Bangladesh’s first nuclear power station, Rooppur, is in progress,” he said at the ceremony at Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Wednesday.

“Given the proximity of our respective states' approaches to most pressing regional problems, we look forward to continuing close cooperation at the UN and other multilateral organisations,” Putin said. The government recently appointed Ambassador Ahsan, a secretary at the foreign ministry, as the new ambassador of Bangladesh to Moscow.

He is a career foreign service officer, belonging to 1985 batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Foreign Affairs cadre. In his diplomatic career, he has served in various capacities at Bangladesh Missions in Beijing, London, Washington DC and Dubai. He also served as High Commissioner to Canada and Singapore.

Kamrul obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He also studied at Beijing Language and Culture University and Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii of USA.
People of Bangladesh have strong admiration of Russia because of the valued support and contribution received from the people of the then Soviet Union during the Liberation War in 1971. Then Soviet Union also helped in the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts of Bangladesh after independence.

But after the 1975 massacre when the founding father of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated, the relations went down. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Moscow in 2013 was first by a head of government after 1972 when Bangabandhu visited Russia. Both sides now have agreements for cooperation in different sectors particularly defence, trade and energy.

The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) now stands as a "signature" initiative and Bangladesh is soon going to enter the elite club of the nuclear power.