Russian President Vladimir Putin has honoured Inter-Parliamentary Union President Saber Hossain Chowdhury with “Order of Friendship” — Russia’s highest state decoration.
Speakers of the upper and the lower houses of the Russian Parliament, Valentina Matviyenko and Vyacheslav Volodin, also took part at the ceremony yesterday.
A Kremlin statement says: “The Order was presented for a major contribution to the development of inter-parliamentary ties, consolidation of cooperation and mutual understanding between the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.”
A Bangladesh embassy statement says Saber, also an Awami League lawmaker, “is among very few from the South Asian region to be awarded with such an honour.”
“In the recent years, notable persons like former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were also awarded with the honour,” it said.
A 20-member delegation, headed by Jatiya Sangsad Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah, is representing Bangladesh in the 137th Assembly of IPU to be held in Saint Petersburg city.
Source: The Daily Star
