Food & Wine Nepal – July 2019

(46) Hospitality, Food & Wine, Monthly

department of Tourism and Hospitality

Management in the Dhaka University

and the Bangladesh Institute of Tourism

and Hotel Management, a private run

institute offering four-year graduate

course. In addition, the National Hotel

and Tourism Training Institute under

the Parjatan Corporation, under the

Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism,

Government of Bangladesh, offers a

diploma course also

In 2017, you co-authored an op-ed

for The Kathmandu Post about equal

opportunities for women. In the

article, many leading Nepali women

are mentioned who can be presented

as role models for many. Would you

mind to elaborate a little more at this

point of time?

In Bangladesh we firmly believe that

unless women are empowered, the

country can never develop because if

you leave half the country behind, how

can you grow? To reach the targets of

development, it is essential that women

should get equal opportunities in

education, employment, healthcare and

political empowerment too. Under our

Honorable Prime Minister’s dynamic

leadership, we are 2nd in women

empowerment in Asia, the top in South

Asia and rank 46th globally in women

empowerment. Political empowerment

wise, we are 6th in the world so these

numbers show that empowering women

for us is a very important task. This way

we are trying to encourage women to

enter politics and other areas that they

wouldn’t normally enter. I believe that

empowering women is the way forward.

Shifting away from a diplomatic side,

you have been in Nepal for some

time now. How has the country been

treating you so far? Given you take a

keen interest in travelling and history;

have you had the opportunity to visit

some of the more historic places in

and around the country?

It has been a wonderful experience. The

people here are very welcoming and

friendly. Sometimes I forget that I am

not in Bangladesh.

Yes, I have been fortunate to travel

around the country. Recently I visited

the Sindhuli Durbar but I was a little

disappointed since the Durbar has

not been properly maintained. It’s a

historic place for Nepal and should be

preserved. Wherever I go, I try to visit

the historic sites in the area. I have also

been to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord

Buddha, Kapilavastu, Ram Gram and

all the other Buddhist heritage sites

nearby. Recently I visited Janakpur and

visited the Janaki temple.

Please tell us about your favorite food

from both Bangladesh and Nepal.

In Bangladesh we have Dal Bhaat, saag

and a lot of fish. Fish is something I

miss from Bangladesh as it is a staple

food in our diet. Fish and rice makes a

Bangladeshi person. We have a lot of

varieties of fish back home but here it is

very limited so I do miss fish every now

and then. Nepali food wise, I do like

the momos and the Nepali thali which

offers all the varieties of Nepali food.

Is there anything else that you would

like to share with our readers?

Our two countries enjoy a very friendly

relation and I hope that this relation

will strengthen over the years. We are

two countries that are so similar that

we have to cooperate if we want to go

ahead in the world and prosper.

Interviewed by Sagun Shakya