FM Momen: Bangladesh indomitable

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday highlighted Bangladesh’s “indomitable” spirit with success stories in its journey towards higher development trajectory, noting that the country becomes successful in anything it chases for the better.

He made the remarks at a prize distribution ceremony after a friendly cricket match between the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Buet central playground in Dhaka.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Maritime Affairs Unit Secretary Rear Admiral (retd) Md Khurshed Alam, Bangladesh University of Science and Technology (Buet) Vice Chancellor Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, and DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin were present.

The foreign minister talked about Bangladesh’s graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status as the United Nations Committee for Development Policy recommended Bangladesh's graduation, and Bangladesh cricket team’s success in the international competitions despite Bangladesh not being the origin of cricket.

“This year is a year full of good news. It's a big achievement for Bangladesh as we’re set to celebrate 50 years of our Independence with ongoing celebrations of the birth centenary of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” he said.

Momen appreciated the professionalism of the DCAB members and their continuous chase for the updated news encouraged them, too. “We’re thankful to them (diplomatic correspondents).”

He said they want to be a very transparent government and journalists are playing a big role by maintaining professionalism.

Momen said he is very delighted to see that their officers are good at sports too, despite being busy with their work. 

“They all remain busy. It’s not a 9am to 5pm job but a 24/7 hour job. It’s good to play amidst the busyness,” said the foreign minister.

Momen said they are trying to maintain interactions.

“It’s not important who has won and who did not. The important element is we maintained the team spirit,” he added.

He appreciated the young officers at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who graduated from Buet and played very well.

Foreign Secretary Masud Momen expressed satisfaction over such programs as part of sports diplomacy and thanked the foreign minister for his continuous encouragement.

The ministry team won the toss and decided to bat first. They set a challenging target of 150 runs before the DCAB team.

The DCAB team scored 108, losing all the wickets by playing only 13 overs of the 16 over match.

Later, the foreign minister, foreign secretary, MAU secretary and Buet VC handed over prizes to the players of the two teams.