Hun Sen addresses PM as 'sister'

Cambodian Premier Hun Sen today addressed his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina as a "sister".

"At the end of the bilateral talks between the two countries today, the Cambodian prime minister addressed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as a sister," Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told reporters after the meeting at the Peace Palace, the Prime Minister's Office, here.

"You're not only the prime minister of Bangladesh, you're also a sister of mine. That's why I addressed you as my sister," the foreign secretary quoted the Cambodian prime minister as saying.

"When the Cambodian prime minister addressed the Bangladesh premier as a sister he was emotional," the foreign secretary said, adding: "I have never seen in my life anybody to address as a 'sister' during such a formal meeting."

Haque said the Bangladesh prime minister also addressed Hun Sen as a

'brother'. "It demonstrated special relations between the two Asian countries and it will have to be translated into various ways," he said.

The foreign secretary said the relations between the two countries reached a new dimension because of the relationship between the two leaders.

He said the Cambodian prime minister has precise idea about Bangladesh as he visited Bangladesh.

"There was a (special) relationship between Bangabandhu and the old leadership of Cambodia," he said.