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IN THE NAME OF GOD
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah!
In these days the great nation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is celebrating the 26th victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. They also cherish the sweet memories of their days with the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, the man who established a new era in the global system of politics and restored a strong view for Muslims all cross the world. He is now back to his beloved merciful God and his legacy for us is the Islamic Republic of Iran, a modern country free from tyranny and injustice steering ahead under the guidance and leadership of His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamanei.
Iran: a Legacy
Thanks to God, so far, Islamic Republic of Iran has successfully coped with various obstacles on its long and hard path to future. No need to repeat all the tremendous achievements we made in various fields of human resource development, social development, urban and rural development, and industrial, cultural and economic development. Those facts may be found anywhere.
However, the accomplishments and the role of the Islamic Republic of Iran in regional and international integration may need to be focused on. When the dust of the eight-year war against Iran was back to the earth and Iran almost finished with post-war reconstruction process and she went to introduce its real image that had been battered all during those past years. Policy of détente, economic integration and commercial cooperation were the main factors in that regard. As a member of many regional fora, the major ones being OPEC, ECO, North-South Corridor, West-East corridor, IORC; and being the anchor of peace and stability of the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran has all along been playing her role in successfully restoring peace and stability to the region.
Furthermore, being the cross-road for North-South and East-West interaction, having developed motivated intelligent human resources, gifted with abundant natural resources, the Islamic Republic of Iran also plays a significant role in helping the neighbouring countries to develop their resources. With a staunch committed Muslim nation, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always exhausted its efforts to help the Muslim friends in need. She has also done a lot for the cause of integration of Muslim Ummah. Iran views the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) as a very effective tool for that cause, where many member states benefit from the opportunities introduced by the OIC to catch up with time and development. In the meantime, such opportunities are not the goal for OIC, but only a means to help the members to develop their capacity and capabilities to play their share in shaping an umbrella for all Muslim.
Bilateral Relations
The bilateral ties between the two nations started centuries ago and Persian culture and language became an integral part of Bengali culture and Bangla language due to the historical reality that Persian had been the 'lingua franca' of the Indian sub-continent for about six and a half centuries prior to and even during (part of) the British colonial rule in India. Numerous historical places in Bangladesh decorated with Farsi manuscripts and Persian architectural styles support the fact. That interaction helped the institutionalism of Islam in this region which perpetuated the relations of the two people. The fraternity of the two nations is tested and trusted all through the course of history.
The fraternal bonds between the two brotherly nations have been further strengthened by a number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in different fields including education, culture, trade and commerce, agriculture and so on and their follow-up activities as well as exchange of visits both at official and unofficial levels. Due to positive determination of the leaders and sincere and committed endeavours of high officials of the two countries, it is hoped that such ever-growing ties will both expand and deepen in all fields in the days to come.
I would like to mention that today we are in a world where nations and civilisations are very much interrelated and interdependent on each other for, many of our interests are of common in nature. Furthermore, repeated calamities and disasters like the recent 'Tsunami' time and again pronounce that humanity is but a single body and must, as such, feel for each other in times of need. I profoundly sympathise with the people of India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia affected by the Tsunami (26 December 2004) and invoke Almighty God so that He might grant early recovery of the loss of lives and property suffered by those friendly nations.
In fine, I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to extend my sincere greetings and felicitations to the brotherly people of Bangladesh and wish every success of the development efforts of Bangladesh government. I also pray to the Almighty God to shower His choicest blessings, grace and forgiveness on the entire Muslim Ummah especially for the fraternal people of Iran and Bangladesh.
God bless us all. Khoda Hafez.
Mohammad Beheshti
Monfared
Ambassador
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