A festival of Bangladesh is being held in Maldives as part of the cultural exchange programme between the two countries from May 25 to June 7. 

Culture is the best possible way of learning about each other. Paintings as a form of art enables people to appreciate culture, variety, diversity, artistic creativity of a nation to foster greater understanding. The current exhibition of contemporary art of Bangladesh is on display at the National Art Gallery of Maldives organised by the Maldives government and the High Commission of Bangladesh in collaboration with Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts. 

On this very significant occasion, the Vice President of Maldives, Dr Mohamed Waheed, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad and State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem along with numerous guests were present. 

This was one of the rare events when famous people from Bangladesh like Prof Rafiqun Nabi, Prof Abul Barque Alvi, historian Prof Anwar Husain and Director of the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Subir Choudhury were present. 

The High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Maldives, Prof Selina Mohsin took the VIPs around the gallery where 33 paintings of 26 renowned artists including Qayyum Chowdhury, Murtaja Basheer, Hashem Khan and others were on display. 

The unique feature of this exhibition is that a section is devoted to photographs of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. These photographs added to the value and historical implications of the Exhibition entitled "Visual Beauty of Bangladesh and Moments of History." 

The art exhibition and workshops will conclude on June 3. It is hoped that this event will promote greater understanding and closer relationship between the two countries before the SAARC Summit to be held in Maldives in 2011.