Director of the Russian Centre for Science & Cultural (RCSC) in Dhaka Maxim Dobrokhotov on Thursday hoped that the relations between the countries would ‘only strengthen’ in future.
He was talking to reporters at the annual press meet when he highlighted the traditional relations between Dhaka and Moscow.
Russia was the best friend of Bangladesh along with India during the 1971 war of independence.
But after the 1975 massacre when the founding father of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated, the relations went down. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Moscow in 2013 was first by a head of government after 1972 when Bangabandhu visited Russia.
Both sides now have agreements for cooperation in different sectors particularly defence, trade and energy. The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) now stands as a "signature" initiative and Bangladesh is soon going to enter the elite club of nuclear power.
The director discussed the activities of the Russian cultural center in Dhaka and shared his future plans.
He informed that this year Russia celebrated the 75th anniversary of Victory in the ‘Great Patriotic War’ – the ending of World War II. On this occasion RCSC in Dhaka has organised online events, documentary and feature films shows and online meetings due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Another significant anniversary to honor was the 90th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore's visit to Russia which became a sort of harbinger of future friendly relations between Russia and Bangladesh.
He noted that the Russian Center for Science and Culture focuses on educational activities, including the selection of candidates for Russian government scholarship programs, adding that in the 2020-2021 academic year the Russian authorities have allocated a total of 65 scholarships for bachelor's, master's and PhD.
He pointed out that every year over 200 Bangladeshi citizens choose Russia as a place for higher education.
He said that there is a growing interest in Russian language education in Bangladesh as a result of which more than 100 students have taken part in the Russian language courses offered by RCSC this year.
The RCSC Director stressed out the important contribution of local media in daily life and thanked for highlighting activities of RCSC in the press and expressed hope that this trend would continue in future.
Head of the Cultural Programs Proshanta Kumar Barman and Education Sections Sayed Bazlul Hassan Rajib were also present.
