UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Pierre Lacroix paid a curtsy call on Acting Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Ataul Hakim Sarwar Hasan on Sunday at the Army Headquarters in the capital Dhaka.
According to the ISPR press release, during the meeting, they discussed various issues related to the UN peacekeeping mission. The discussions focused about the current status of the Mali mission and the future activities of the mission.
The Acting Army Chief requested the UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping to recruit more Bangladeshi peacekeepers for UN peacekeeping missions.
Lacroix highly praised the contribution of Bangladeshi peacekeepers engaged in the UN peacekeeping mission. He also assured that he would give special consideration to the recruitment of more peacekeepers from Bangladesh. He thanked Bangladesh and especially the Bangladesh Army for sending the highest peacekeepers to the United Nations Mission for a long time. They also discussed for appointing Bangladeshis and especially women peacekeepers for important positions in future peacekeeping missions.
Lieutenant General Ataul Hakim Sarwar Hasan thanked the UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping for meeting him. It is mentionable that he is on a visit to Bangladesh for attending ‘Preparatory conference of the UN Peacekeeping Ministeria-2023’ to be held in Ghana's capital Accra in December this year. This conference titled ‘Women in Peace’ is being organized jointly by Bangladesh, Canada and Uruguay. Bangladesh has been in a leading position in the dynamic trend the United Nations has developed in peacekeeping missions over the past few decades.
Bangladesh also has been the number one peacekeeping sending country for the past few years. The number of members sent from Bangladesh is increasing every year. Bangladesh is also in a strong position in decision-making positions in peacekeeping missions.
