In a bid to strengthen bilateral relations, Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam is currently on a visit to Egypt.
While this visit is expected to open up new horizons for joint co-operation in various domains, Alam told the Editor-in-Chief of The Egyptian Gazette Mohamed Fahmy, that the timing of the visit is significant, as Bangladesh celebrates its 50th year of independence.
Alam’s visit includes meetings with the ministers of foreign affairs, trade, tourism, planning and communications, the Suez Canal Economic Zone chairman and textile industry delegation.
“Last year, we received final recommendations from UN to become a middle income country. By 2041, we want to make Bangladesh a developed country. To do that we need more partners outside our traditional list,” Alam said.
Alam described Egypt’s economy as “quite unique”, referring to the importance of making use of Egypt’s logistics as the rest of the world does with the Suez Canal.
The Bangladeshi economy is driven by agriculture, expatriate remittances and exports of textiles and garments.
“I have heard from the trade minister and SCZone official that Egypt is building up facilities to encourage foreign investors who can benefit from the fantastic facilities Egypt has with Europe, Africa and the Americas,” he added.
Bangladesh is looking to expand farther by investing in land abroad.
“So why can’t Bangladeshi manufacturers invest in these facilities and make good use of Egypt’s trading preferences?” he said, adding that Egypt’s textile make Egypt the world’s second largest exporter of readymade garments.
The minister said his visit is intended to maintain negotiations with ministries and the embassy regarding start of EgyptAir services to Dhaka.
“This will help us connect with countries around the Mediterranean and also African countries as we do not have a direct airline to any African country. This indeed will be a first for Bangladesh. I have been assured by the tourism minister that flights will begin as soon as possible.”
The minister stressed the importance of boosting to trade exchange between the two countries through a free trade agreement.
“The total trade volume is only around $100 million. During the meeting with the trade minister I told her that engagement is so little and the transaction is so little we can seriously talk about a free trade agreement,” the minister took note.
On tourism and antiquities, Alam said: “Egypt is champion in excavation and maintenance. In Bangladesh there are historical sites, but we do not have great expertise. We have excavated a very old civilisation at Wari-Bateshwar about 70 kilometres northeast of Dhaka.”
During his meeting with Tourism Minister Khaled el-Anany, both sides expressed their willingness to co-operate in terms of education and hospitality management.
“You have fantastic tourism industry,” he said.
“As for tertiary education, we discussed the possibility of offering Bangladeshi students scholarships. It is important to encourage the younger generations to take an interest in these affairs in order to understand the roots of the civilisation of the country they live in.
“Now we are afraid that young people will not share our interest in antiquities.”
Alam said new agreements and activating existing ones will enhance joint co-operation, for which education is another promising area.
“There is sizeable number of students studying at Al-Azhar University. In Bangladesh, we have reached a point when we can invite Al-Azhar to open a campus in Bangladesh.”
Alam congratulated Egypt for securing the presidency of COP27.
“It is very important for us. In my meetings with ministers, they explained how they are preparing for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia. This matches the programme for Bangladesh, which is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world and is the current chair of climate vulnerable forum.”
“As we expected much from COP26, our expectations of COP27 are even higher in terms of implementing the decisions taken in the previous forum.
“Egypt is more than capable of hosting such conference,” the ambassador said.
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