We celebrate the values of Ramadan-David Miliband Foreign Secretary

We celebrate the values of Ramadan:
Social Justice, compassion - Miliband

Dr. Mozammel Haque

If I understand rightly the values of Ramadan, the values that we celebrate tonight, the values of responsibility, the values of social justice, the values of compassion, the values that say something more important than ourselves - and those are important values that we should celebrate as a country and not just as a community here tonight, said the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, M.P., while inaugurating the Eid-ul-Fitr reception at the Durbar Hall of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London, yesterday, Monday, 12th of October 2009 in the presence of other three Cabinet Ministers; Saudi, Syrian, Sudanese, Turkish and other diplomats, community leaders, businessmen and media people.

Miliband said, “those of you who are British citizens, each and every one of you is an ambassador for the best of what Britain can be. And I’ve spoken tonight who’ve on Foreign Office Missions to Bangladesh, people who are passionately engaged on issues of Darfur, people who care deeply about the plight of the Palestinians, people who are concerned about human rights in Sri Lanka. All of you are ambassadors for the sort of world we want to see, not just sort of Britain we want to see.”

“I think it’s important to say very clearly and very loudly that the sort of engagement we are beginning to develop from Britain’s Muslim communities to Muslim communities around the world, talking about the sort of Britain we want to see as well as the sort of world that we want to see, that is a huge new dimension to our diplomacy and one that I think gives us the potential to be even stronger diplomatic power in the years ahead,” said the British Foreign Secretary.

“So tonight is a chance to say, to say thank you to those of you who’ve engaged in our work but also to encourage more of you to be part of the honest, critical outward looking dialogue that I think is the heart of modern foreign policy,” said Miliband and added, “That we have Muslim communities who are immensely proud of their faith but are also immensely proud of being British and that is I think an important point of unity tonight.”

Miliband also mentioned, “Maybe I feel it especially because I am the first generation in my family to have been born in Britain, but I know this is a country that welcomes people, that brings the best out of people and that brings people together. And if tonight can be part of that process of bringing people together, of sharing what we have in common and debating where we have differences, and of committing together to be an outward looking force for our country; then we will not just be celebrating marking an important part of our holy calendar, we will also be contributing to the strength of this country.”