Nurul Huda

Bangladeshi officials are in talks with the UN to make Bangla an official language of the international body, but that could mean millions of dollars in extra costs for the government

Under UN rules, Dhaka would have to bear all costs of translating and interpreting documents produced in its official language. That adds up to a staggering US$2,500 per page, a UN source said, adding up to millions of dollars each year.

                  
Six languages have official UN status: English, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. UN General Assembly documents are produced in English, French and Spanish and Security Council resolutions are in English and French.

 
Member countries seeking official language status need to submit a formal proposal to the UN General Assembly for debate, an official source told The Independent yesterday.
India has been seeking official language status for Hindi, and discussions are still in progress.

Bangla is spoken by nearly 25 crore (250 million) people of which 15 crore (150 million) are in Bangladesh. It is spoken in some states of India including West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Orissa, and Bihar.

Bangladesh submitted a proposal to the UNESCO General Assembly in 1999 seeking a declaration that February 21 would be recognised as official Mother Language Day. A UNESCO Resolution on February 21 was also endorsed by the UN General Assembly, the source said.