Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has moved up to 30th on the list of 100 most powerful women in the world this year. Last year, she was on the 36th position.

The US-based influential business magazine Forbes published the list on its website on Wednesday.

In the profile of Sheikh Hasina, Forbes dubbed her as the "Lady of Dhaka", saying she has promised aid to the Rohingya people in stark contrast to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar and allocated 2,000 acres of land to provide them shelter.

It also said: "Citing Bangladesh's own state sanctioned genocide during 1971's Liberation War, Sheikh Hasina is "proud to bear the bulk of the cost" of the relocation of these Rohingyas to her country. This includes issuing identification cards and providing childhood immunisations."

For a seventh consecutive time and 12 times in total, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has topped the Forbes' list, with British Prime Minister Theresa May on the slot for the second most powerful woman.

May is followed by Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft owner Bill Gates and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

Others in the top 10 of the list are YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (sixth), Abigail Johnson, President-CEO, Fidelity Investments, USA, (seventh), International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde (eighth), Ana Patricia Botin, Chair, Santander Group, Banco Santander, Spain (ninth) and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty(tenth).

The survey features 100 women from 29 countries who represent sectors such as politics, business, technology and philanthropy.

Source: BSS