Visiting Speaker of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Baroness D' Souza on Saturday expressed her firm optimism that democracy and peace would continue in Bangladesh for its further development and prosperity.

‘I hope that democracy and peace would continue in Bangladesh in the interest of further development and prosperity of the country. I also hope that Bangladesh would be turned into a middle income country by 2021 as per its goal,’ she said.

The Speaker of the House of Lords expressed this hope when she paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official Ganobhaban residence here this morning.

After the meeting, Prime Minister's Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhury briefed reporters.

He said the two leaders discussed democracy and democratic system side by side with other issues.

D' Souza congratulated the Prime Minister on election of Bangladesh in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Union (CPU) and Inter Parliamentary Association (IPA).

‘I hope that Bangladesh would play a massive role in the CPU and IPA, and parliamentary system across the globe would be further be strengthened under its leadership,’ she said.

In this connection, the Prime Minister said she always appreciates the Commonwealth which extends support to democratic system all over the world.

She apprised the House of Lords Speaker of the tremendous development that took place in Bangladesh in the last six years.

‘Bangladesh witnessed a stunning success in different fields that included increasing of GDP growth, development in agriculture, education and healthcare and reduction of inflation and poverty rate,’ she said.

When D' Souza wanted to know about investment situation in Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said the present investment policy in Bangladesh is attractive, and a unique investment-friendly atmosphere is now prevailing in the country.

‘We have taken steps to set up 20 more export processing zones (EPZs) in the country and hope that more foreign investment would come in these EPZs,’ she said.

The House of Lords Speaker said economic development of Bangladesh is amazing and it made tremendous progress in all sectors.

She also highly appreciated digitisation and setting up Union Digital Centres across the Bangladesh, saying that the achievements in the ICT sector is also tremendous.

D' Souza also highly praised Bangladesh's success in women empowerment, mentioning that the Prime Minister, the Deputy Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader and the Speaker of the Parliament all are females.

The House of Lords Speaker said she believes that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is an icon of women development and empowerment.

‘Sheikh Hasina is also an effective implementer of the development programme for the welfare of the people,’ she said.

D' Souza also expressed her happiness over her visit to Bangladesh at the time of the 21st February which is a unique and unifying day to bring the people across the world together.

Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, PM's International Affairs Advisor Dr Gowher Rizvi, Principal Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Gibson and Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhuri were present on the occasion.

Baroness D' Souza arrived in Dhaka last night on a two-day visit to Bangladesh at the invitation of the Jatiya Sangsad Speaker.