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The Speaker of the British House of Commons Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Md. Hasan Mahmud MP handed over the Bangladesh High Commission London’s ‘Bangabandhu-Edward Heath Friendship Award 2023’ to Lord Marland, Chairman of CWEIC.

during the 54th Independence and National Day Diplomatic Reception of Bangladesh held at the Churchill Room of the historic Queen Elizabeth II Centre at Westminster.

Before handing over the awards, Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem told the media that these two awards were launched during Mujib Borsho in 2022 by the High Commission to honour the special friendship of Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with two of UK’s celebrated Conservative and Labour Prime Ministers, namely Sir Edward Heath, and Sir Harold Wilson between 1964 and 1975  that laid the foundation of today’s vibrant Bangladesh-UK relations. She added, “It was Bangabandhu’s two historic meetings as president of independent Bangladesh during his one-day visit to London on 08 January 1972, at 10 Downing Street with the-then Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath and the other with then Leader of the Opposition, Sir Harold Wilson, that laid the foundations of today’s vibrant Bangladesh-UK bilateral relations. That is why we took the initiative to dedicate these awards to recognise”.

The ‘Bangabandhu-Edward Heath Friendship Award’ was given to Lord Marland  for his extraordinary contributions to promote trade and business relations between the UK and Bangladesh, not least with the first Commonwealth Trade and Investment Forum in September 2023.