I was invited by the Northampton Bangladeshi community to recently attend a reception in the House of Commons to mark the 47th anniversary of Bangladeshi independence and the positive state of UK-Bangladesh relations.
I joined members of the Northampton Bangladeshi community at the reception to celebrate both the strong, positive contribution they make to our local community and to celebrate the historical link between our two countries.
Bangladesh is part of the family of nations that is the Commonwealth and this amongst other things – like the migration between our two countries – has kept relations strong. For the 2018/2019 year the UK will be giving around £170 million to Bangladesh in aid and recent figures show that trade between the two countries is worth billions of dollars.
At the event I spoke to a Bangladeshi media company in which I expressed my positivity about relations between our two countries. I also made a speech at the event briefly talking about how much I value the contribution that the Bangladeshi community makes to our country.