The ASEAN Dhaka Committee (ADC) in collaboration with the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) organised a donation programme Monday to help the low-income people in Dhaka, who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme was organised to express solidarity with the people of Bangladesh and was part of the ADC’s community outreach activity.
Distributing several hundred care bags, donated by all the ASEAN diplomatic missions in Dhaka, was part of the humanitarian effort.
The bags contained a combination of basic food items – namely rice, lentil, sugar, flour, and cooking oil – masks, and blankets to help the low-income people to stay warm during the upcoming winter.
The logistic aspects of the donation programme were facilitated by the BMCCI, a non-profit organisation with an aim to foster trade ties between Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Haznah Md Hashim, high commissioner of Malaysia and ADC chair, expressed her appreciation to BMCCI president Raquib Mohammad Fakhrul for the support.
The envoy highlighted that this contribution showed the ADC’s care to the vulnerable people in Bangladesh, including the day labourers and rickshaw pullers, amid the pandemic.
The programme reflected the ADC’s firm commitment to strengthening the people-to-people relations and further signified the long-standing relations between ASEAN and Bangladesh, said the organisers.
The ADC, established in 2014 and now being chaired by Malaysia, comprises eight ASEAN diplomatic missions based in Dhaka.
Their current heads of mission are Haznah Md Hashim, high commissioner of Malaysia; Haji Haris Haji Othman, high commissioner of Brunei Darussalam; Pham Viet Chien, ambassador of Viet Nam; Aung Kyaw Moe, ambassador of Myanmar; Makawadee Sumitmor, ambassador of Thailand; Alan L Deniega, ambassador of the Philippines; Hidayat Atjeh, chargé d’affaires of Indonesia, and Sheela Pillai, head of Mission of the Singapore Consulate.
Source: United News of Bangladesh