Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh Ramis Şen and Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro on Tuesday met Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud separately and discussed issues of future cooperation.
The Turkish Ambassador highlighted the upcoming third conference of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on March 1-3 and hoped that Foreign Minister Hasan will actively join the Forum.
They discussed the celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Bangladesh this year.
In addition to discussing the war in Ukraine and Gaza, they discussed Rohingya repatriation, increasing migration of Bangladeshis to Turkey through legal channels, prevention of irregular migration, expansion of trade between the two countries.
The ambassador of Italy described the relationship with Bangladesh special and said that there are about 200,000 Bangladeshis who are playing a positive role in the economy of both countries.
He also expressed interest in taking more Bangladeshis there through legal channels.
The foreign minister sought Italy’s cooperation in the leather goods, automobile, information and communication technology sectors.
Both the Minister and Ambassador recalled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s bilateral visit to Italy in 2020 and the meeting with the Italian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization conference in 2023.
Foreign Minister Hassan emphasized on the establishment of joint chambers of commerce by the ambassador to promote trade and investment between the two countries.
Besides, Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has invited Swiss investment in IT and agro-processing sectors, and urged Switzerland to follow the suit of the European Union (EU) in extending duty-free and Duty-Free Quota-Free (DFQF) trade preferences till 2029.
He also stressed on the protracted Rohingya crisis and sought Swiss assistance and support in expediting the Rohingyas’ safe, dignified, and swift repatriation to Myanmar.
Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Reto Renggli met the Foreign Minister at his office on Monday and praised Bangladesh’s impressive value chain development journey from the 70’s to this day and flagged the scope of supply chain development where the Swiss side could chip in through their food processing machinery industry.
The Ambassador reassured continued Swiss humanitarian support to the Rohingyas, recognizing the recent border security issues as well.
The Foreign Minister and the Swiss Ambassador shared their views on wars and conflicts in different parts of the world, including in Ukraine, Gaza and the Red Sea and their resultant negative impacts on the economies of the two countries.
The Swiss Ambassador congratulated Foreign Minister Dr Hasan on his appointment as the Foreign Minister.
The Foreign Minister termed the relations between the two nations as historic and strong.
The Swiss Ambassador lauded the spectacular socio-economic development of Bangladesh over the last decade.
Mentioning Swiss President’s visit to Bangladesh in 2018 and Prime Minister’s visit to Switzerland in 2023, the Ambassador termed Bangladesh-Switzerland ties as ‘solid’.
He expressed hope for signing bilateral Air Services Agreement in March and holding the next Foreign Office Consultations in April to advance bilateral relations further.
Switzerland is a steady partner of Bangladesh in promoting key values - good business practices, multilateral cooperation and a vibrant civil society.