By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh

An international student gathering in Bangladesh on Thursday urged the young people worldwide to grow harmony among faiths with a greater interest of global peace.

Addressing the gathering at Dhaka University as the keynote speaker, Professor Khan Abul Kalam Azad said most of the international students in Bangladesh will hold leading positions in the global arena as well as their respective countries.

“And so love and faith among international students are vital for restoring global peace and harmony,” Azad, principal of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said at the meeting of which Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner.

Aslan Bekiroglu, executive assistant of Turkey-based Federation of International Student Associations (UDEF), told the meeting: “Our mission is to raise people spreading the world peace and brotherhood.”

“We want peace and brotherhood to dominate the whole world just like we meet here now and share our joy of each other,” he added.

Describing Turkey as a fantastic country for international students, Bekiroglu said 150,000 international students from 203 countries came to Turkey for education since 1983.

About the goals of UDEF, he said that the federation works to build a platform for international students in Turkey to get acquainted with each other, find solutions for their problems, and become individuals who spread their wisdom all around the world.

The Dhaka meeting was part of 12th International Student Gatherings, which is being held in 91 cities across 51 countries with the slogan of “for a just world from east to the west”.

Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner of the gatherings organized by UDEF in collaboration with Runner Bangladesh Development Society, a Dhaka-based non-political and non-governmental development organization.

This year’s events began in Turkey’s central Kirsehir province on March 17 and will finish on May 4. Events are also to continue abroad, starting in Sri Lanka on March 6 and finishing in the U.K. on April 30.

The final event will be held on May 4, 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bekiroglu went on to say.

Attending the meeting as a guest of honor, Enis Faruk Erdem, deputy chief of mission in the Turkish Embassy in Dhaka, informed the audience about Turkish government-funded scholarship programs for foreign students.

"The Turkish scholarship program awards successful students who will become future leaders committed to empowering international cooperation and mutual understanding,” he added.

Also speaking at the gathering, Nahida Sobhan, Director General of Bangladesh Foreign Ministry's UN Desk, said she will ask her ministry to launch a separate desk for foreign students coming to Bangladesh for education.

Participating in the gathering from different countries, international students urged authorities of respective countries to ease the educational VISA process and extend scholarship volume.