DHAKA, June 17, 2020 (BSS) – President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have conveyed their heartfelt felicitations and warmest greetings to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her 94th official birthday, which falls on the second Saturday in June.
In separate messages sent on June 13, both the President and the Prime Minister have wished Her Majesty’s good health, happiness, and long life as well as the continued peace, progress and prosperity of the friendly people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, according to a press release issued by Bangladesh High Commission in London today.
President Abdul Hamid in his message said: “On the occasion of your Ninety-fourth birthday, I would like to renew my pledge to work closely with Your Majesty to further strengthening and broadening of the existing bonds of friendship between the two Commonwealth countries in the days ahead.”
“For the past seven decades, I have been following with great admiration, Your Majesty’s service and duty to the people of the United Kingdom that continues to inspire us during these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her message said: “On this special day, I would like to pay a tribute to Your Majesty for being the longest-serving Monarch of the world who has not only exemplified grace, duty, and service to her nation with utmost sincerity for the past seven decades but also won the hearts and minds of millions around the world as the Head of our Commonwealth family.”
She said: “Your Majesty’s spirited words — we’ll be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again — have been a tremendous fountain of inspiration and courage emboldening us during the COVID-19 pandemic, the deadliest crisis of our lifetime.”
The prime minister reaffirmed the excellent bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two Commonwealth nations that were consolidated by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Queen when she first received Bangabandhu at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Ottawa in 1973 and grew from strength to strength over the past half-century.
“I also recall with great pleasure our interactions at the 2018 CHOGM in London,” she said.