Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Andrés Cafiero will come to Dhaka on February 27 as a “new dimension” has recently been added to the diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and the Latin American countries.
New spokesperson of the foreign ministry Seheli Sabrin on Thursday at the first weekly briefing said he would meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and leaders of the apex business chamber FBCCI, apart from his meeting with his counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen, during the visit.
There will be a foreign office consultation (FOC) during the visit when the whole range of bilateral issues will be discussed. One or more MoUs for cooperation between the countries might be signed.
Argentina is expected to open a mission in Dhaka.
“We are expecting a formal announcement of opening a mission during the visit. The government of Bangladesh has given its nod in this regard,” she said, adding that Bangladesh is also looking forward to opening a mission in Buenos Aires.
“The foreign ministry is doing a feasibility study in this regard,” she said, adding that it’s a long process to open a mission.
“In fact, the process to strengthen the relations with Latin American countries started back in 2009. There had been a fact-finding mission to explore the potentials of the relations,” she said.
With the opening of the mission, she said, there will be opportunities to strengthen trade and investment ties.
The relations with Argentina came to the fore after the FIFA World Cup win of the Latin American country. Bangladesh’s crazy fan base of Argentine football drew global attention.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen sent a congratulatory letter to Argentina and said: “I believe, despite our geographical distance, the hearts of the people of Bangladesh and Argentina are dearly united by football.”
“I look forward to consolidating our mutual priorities and opening missions in each other's capitals in the coming days,” he wrote.
On January 30, the Foreign Minister said he had requested his counterpart to bring Lionel Messi along with him.
The foreign ministry spokesperson, however, said there was no such confirmation yet.
“We will let you know if we get any confirmation through the relevant ministry.”
