Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahamud said that as there are over 350 million Bangla speakers all over the world, therefore, Bangla language is one of the most common languages in the world.
“That is why, we would like to establish Bangla as the official language of the United Nations,” he said while talking to the media after paying respects to language martyrs at Central Shaheed Minar on Wednesday morning.
He said: “The recognition of Bangla as an international language is a great achievement for a nation in the international arena. Today our dream is to turn Bangla into the official language of the United Nations.”
The foreign minister said: “Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman decided to celebrate February 21 as protest day while sitting in jail. After this, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, February 21 has been anointed as International Mother Language Day in view of sending a proposal to the United Nations.”
The United Nations has six official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Before this, the initiative was taken several times to add Bangla as an official language of the United Nations.
In February 2021, the former foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said that although there was no opposition from any member state to the proposal to introduce Bangla as an official language, it was not possible for the UN to introduce it due to financial reasons.
He had said: "United Nations authorities have said that they will need $600 million per year to introduce a new official language at the United Nations."
