Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, has vowed to support Bangladesh. According to The Daily Star in Bangladesh, Macron recalled France’s past support for Bangladesh, including during the country’s Liberation War. France will once again be on your side, he continued. According to a report in The Daily Star, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina referred to Macron as a “breath of fresh air in international politics.”
Sheikh Hasina said, “Your push for strategic autonomy largely aligns with our own foreign policy dictum Friendship to all, malice towards none given to us by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.”
The speeches were delivered by the two leaders on Sunday at a dinner in Emmanuel Macron’s honor that Sheikh Hasina hosted in Dhaka. Emmanuel Macron and Sheikh Hasina took in a cultural performance by dancers from the Chakma, Marma, and Tripura communities as well as performers from the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh Academy of Fine Arts. Both leaders praised French thinker André Malraux for his assistance during the Liberation War in 1971. “This history binds us together despite adversaries,” French President Macron said.
He hailed Bangladesh’s “tremendous success” over the years on the basis of democratic principles and the rule of law at the core of the country’s identity. Macron stated that Bangladesh is progressively gaining its place on the world stage with science, trade and culture.