Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for announcing $1.5 million (Tk12.6 crore) as contribution to the Saarc Covid-19 Emergency Fund, reports UNB.
"Grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh for announcing $ 1.5 million as contribution to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund," he tweeted.
"Through our solidarity and working together, we will overcome challenges posed by Covid-19," he added.
Grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh for announcing $ 1.5 million as contribution to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund. Through our solidarity and working together, we will overcome challenges posed by COVID-19.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 23, 2020
Bangladesh on Sunday announced to contribute $1.5 million to the Saarc Emergency Fund proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fight coronavirus (Covid-19) in the region.
There are commitments from other countries, too, an official told UNB confirming Bangladesh's contribution.
On March 15, Modi said the emergency fund would be based on voluntary contributions from all of them and India can start with an initial offer of US$10 million for this fund.
Nepal will contribute $1 million, Afghanistan $1 million, the Maldives $200,000 and Bhutan will contribute US$100000, said the official.
The aim of the fund is to help any of Saarc nations meet the cost of emergent actions to combat this pandemic.
Foreign secretaries of the Saarc countries would finalize concept and operational rules.
Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Modi proposed a strong strategy by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member countries to fight the coronavirus threat in the South Asian region.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomed Modi’s proposal and had constructive dialogue with her Indian counterpart and other heads of states and governments and discussed a way forward during the testing time for the region and the world.
