PM gives UNESCO certificates to five organisations for March 7 Speech

1309

DHAKA, March 6, 2018 (BSS) – The UNESCO certificates that endorsed the inscription of the historic 7th March Speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were handed over to five organisations here today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over the certificates to the five organisations which made outstanding contributions to achieving the recognition of the 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu as part of the World’s Documentary Heritage.

The organisations are the Information and Communication Technology Division, Bangladesh Betar, the Department of Film and Publications, the Liberation War Museum and Bangladesh Film Archive.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque and Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor and trustees of the Liberation War Museum received the certificate from the prime minister on behalf the Liberation War Museum.

On behalf of the DFP, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, State Minister for Information Tarana Halim, Secretary M Nasiruddin Ahmed and DFP Director General Mohammad Ishtaque Hossain received the certificate.

Minister for Post, Telecommunications and ICT Ministry Mustafa Jabbar, State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak and Secretary Subir Kishore Chowdhury took the certificate on behalf of the ICT Division.

On behalf of Bangladesh Betar, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, State Minister for Information Tarana Halim, Secretary M Nasiruddin Ahmed and Director General of Bangladesh Betar Narayan Chandra Shill received the certificate.

Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, State Minister for Information Tarana Halim, Secretary M Nasiruddin Ahmed and Director General of Bangladesh Films Archive Sachindranath Halder received the certificate on behalf of the Film Archive.

Nurul Islam Nahid, education minister and head of the delegation that represented Bangladesh to the UNESCO meeting in Paris in October last, delivered the welcome address at the function held at Ganabhaban, the official residence of the prime minister, here this evening.

On behalf of the Liberation War Museum, its trustee Mafidul Haque also spoke, while PM’s Principal Secretary Md Nojibur Rahman conducted the function.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu were present on the dais.

The Head and Representative of UNESCO in Bangladesh B Kaldun was present on the occasion.

Ministers, parliament members, freedom fighters, educationists, editors, writers, actors, singers, poets, senior journalists of print and electronic media were present, among others.

Earlier, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has sent five certificates to Bangladesh endorsing the inscription of the historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu.

The UNESCO sent the certificates, signed by its director general, recently to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh through Bangladesh Ambassador to France and Permanent Delegate of Bangladesh to UNESCO Kazi Imtiaz Hossain.

The UNESCO has also sent a letter to this end to the Bangladesh ambassador to France.

In the letter, Boyan Radoykov, chief of section of Universal Access and Preservation of the UNESCO, said, “It’s my pleasure to inform you that upon the recommendation of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme, at its 13th meeting held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (from 24 to 27 October 2017), the Director General has endorsed the inscription of the historic 7th March of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – 1971.”

The letter also said the inclusion of this documentary heritage in the Memory of the World Register reflects its exceptional value and signifies that it should be protected for the benefit of the humanity.

“It also offers an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the importance of the collective memory and its safeguard to enable as many people as possible to have access to it,” the letter said.

On October 30 last, the UNESCO recognised the historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu as part of the world’s documentary heritage following the recommendation of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme at its 13th meeting held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova announced the decision on the day at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.