Princess Anne, only daughter of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, arrives in Dhaka today on a three-day visit.
During her fourth trip here the Princess Royal is expected to meet President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia, leading civil society personalities and members of the British community in Bangladesh, said a release of the British High Commission in Dhaka.
She will lay a wreath at the National Martyrs’ Memorial to commemorate the 40th year of Bangladesh’s independence. She will visit Grameen Nursing College, Acid Survivors Foundation and International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B).
She will also have a look at British Council initiatives aimed at fostering links between the UK and Bangladesh through education and sports.
According to the British HC release, the royal guest will travel to Satkhira and Bagerhat to see the livelihood of the extreme poor and learn of the post-Aila reconstruction and aid distribution work.
She will meet members of Tiger Project to underline her support for the London Zoological Society’s work in preserving endangered tiger population.
Her visit to Mongla will focus on Save the Children’s programmes which aim at helping local communities to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
The Princess Royal’s programme reflects her long-held interest in health and welfare issues in developing countries including Bangladesh.
She is a patron of Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI), a UK charity dedicated to combating and eradicating acid violence around the globe.
ASTI supports the Acid Survivors Foundation which is jointly funded by the UK (through the Department for International Development), Canada and the Netherlands.
She is also the president of Save the Children UK, a non-government organisation fighting for children who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and violence in the UK and abroad.
She is scheduled to leave Bangladesh on Thursday.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
