<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed today paid courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the latter's official Ganabhaban residence here.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The meeting had discussion on the worldwide economic crisis created from the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine and put emphasis on collective efforts to overcome it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed newsmen after the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said the issues of SDGs, climate change and Rohingya repatriation also discussed in the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The premier said her government has been taking various timely measures to overcome the international food crisis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Her government, she said, has been working to bring all the fallow land under cultivation to ward off the crisis. The premier also put emphasis on rooftop cultivation of food and vegetables.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Her government has been given topmost priority to research in agriculture sector, she added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The premier said they have already developed saline and flood tolerance rice varieties and are working to improve those further.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">About Rohingya issue, she said they have given Rohingyas shelter in Bangladesh on humanitarian ground. "But, they have become a big burden for us. It has also created social problem," she continued.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amina J. Mohammed said 52 countries are now on the verge of the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have to face the crisis together. It is a big challenge for the developing nations," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She also praised the contribution of Bangladeshi peacekeepers to maintain world peace.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PM's ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin, PM's Principal Secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Muhammad Abdul Muhith were present in the meeting. BSS</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>