Dhaka: Congress party president Sonia
Gandhi on Monday praised Bangladesh's "path breaking innovations"
in micro-finance, education, women's empowerment and public
health as she underlined the need for a partnership in South
Asia to provide affordable services to millions of autistic
children.
"Bangladesh has been such a fertile source of social
innovation," Sonia said while inaugurating an international
conference on autism here.
"We applaud your achievements," she told the two-day
conference, which was attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
and global experts on autism.
Sonia, who arrived here yesterday, said Bangladesh was
admired worldwide for its "path-breaking innovations" in
micro-finance, education, women's empowerment, public health
and sanitation and "we applaud your achievements".
"India has held together as one nation, deepened its
democracy and accelerated its economic growth (while)
Bangladesh has achieved economic and social success beyond
anything thought possible at the time of its birth," she said
in her 15-minute speech.
The UPA chairperson proposed a partnership in South
Asia so that autistic children have an easy access to services
on affordable expenses.
"On crucial issues like the fertility rate, proportion
of underweight children, immunization, number of mean years of
schooling, child and infant mortality rates, and life
expectancy, you are ahead of us," she noted.
Sonia highlighted the shared history of the two
nations and the great progress made by them over the decades.
PTI
First Published: Monday, July 25, 2011, 18:35