Australian scholarships to help build capacity: Foskett

"Australia is very pleased to be assisting Bangladesh develop its human capital by offering 79 talented men and women scholarships to Australia's world-class universities," Douglas Foskett told a pre-departure ceremony in the city yesterday.

Congratulating the scholarship awardees, Foskett said Bangladesh and Australia attach high priority to human resource development as a critical way to promote poverty reduction and economic development.

Foskett said the programme is an excellent opportunity to reinforce the already strong relations between the two countries.

"Australia's partnership with both government and non-government agencies ensures the scholarship programme will meet institutional capacity strengthening objectives. On their return from Australia, the awardees will be able to contribute significantly to their

workplaces and the country as a whole," Foskett said.

He said they will join 48 other Bangladeshis already studying under the Australian Development Scholarship (ADS) programme in Australia.