DHAKA, March 18, 2024 (BSS) - Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to pursue an effort to mobilise a larger international fund in support of the Rohingyas.

She made the appeal in a meeting with visiting UNDP goodwill ambassador and Crown Princess of Sweden Victoria at a city hotel here.

PM's Speechwriter Md Nazrul Islam briefed reporters after the meeting.

Apart from the Rohingya issue, different bilateral and multilateral issues including climate change were discussed during the meeting.

Against the backdrop of declining trend of international funds for Rohingyas, the premier urged the UNDP to mobilise efforts so that the larger amount of funds would come to support the Rohingyas.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh had given shelter to displaced Rohingyas on humanitarian ground and arranged improved accommodation for them in Bhashanchar with ensuring required facilities. 

Some one lakh Rohingya can reside in Bhashanchar, she added.

The prime minister has sought assistance from the UNDP to relocate more Rohingya people to Bhashanchar.

She called upon the Swedish businessmen to make larger investment in Bangladesh particularly in special economic zones. 

Mentioning that Bangladesh is one of the worst victims of climate change, she said, "Bangladesh's contribution to carbon emission is negligible but the country is badly affected."

Bangladesh faces different natural calamities like floods and cyclones due to climate changes, she said. 

About the local climate adaptation and mitigation programmes, she said Bangladesh formed a climate trust fund to protect the local community and their livelihood. 

The premier said her government's main goal is to alleviate poverty as it has already declined the poverty rate to 18.7 percent from 41 percent and the extreme poverty rate to 5.6 percent from 25.1. 

The government, she said, has been providing homeless people with free cyclone-resistant houses throughout the country to make Bangladesh as an abode of "no homeless people".

The premier said her government constructed cyclone shelter centres on the coastal areas. She recalled her first visit to Sweden in 1969 when her husband had been there for study.

While the Swedish Crown Princess said there is a huge scope to deepen the bilateral relations between Sweden and Bangladesh.

She expressed her optimism for strengthening the bilateral ties between the two countries especially in trade, business and investment.

Victoria arrived in Dhaka on Monday on a four-day visit to Bangladesh.

She will visit Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhashanchar.