Dhaka, March 26 -- Hailing Bangladesh's upcoming graduation from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) solely as the success of the people of the country, Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh nevertheless confirmed that his country has no plans to abandon the fight against extreme poverty here.

That will come as no surprise to those who are aware of the surprising depth (let's face it - you could hardly come up with two more starkly contrasting stereotypes than the ice-cool Swede and the emotional, unkempt Bengali) to the bilateral relationship between the two countries. With the possible exception of the Japanese, the Swedish government has probably been the most steadfast of Bangladesh's ...