Before Bangabandhu’s visit to the USSR on Feb 29, 1972, field work was done in stages and the papers were doing stories on what Bangladesh may expect from the Soviet Union.
On Feb 28, Monday, the cabinet held a nine hour meeting in two sessions presided over by Bangabandhu.
Political observers felt that the trip will have a long lasting impact on political and economic relations between the two countries.
At that time, everyone was talking about the support provided by USSR during the liberation war and asking for Soviet help in restructuring Bangladesh’s battered economy was normal.
Before the Russia trip, the government of Bangladesh published a list of their requests and it was worth Tk. 1.5 billion.
A high powered economic team from Russia came to Bangladesh to discuss the matters and prepared a concept paper on the short and long term support.
British Labour Party MP Stone House said that if Bangladesh makes right use of resources then within five years, she can become the richest among developing states. He made the comments while addressing students at the arts faculty of the University of Dhaka.
Stone House also criticized UN’s role during Bangladesh’s war of independence.
“The UN failed to stop the genocide in Bangladesh.”
He congratulated Bangladesh for achieving independence and said that before coming the next time he will learn Bangla.