Newly appointed Ambassador of the Netherlands in Bangladesh Hendrikus GJ Harry on Monday stressed the need for continued international pressure on Myanmar to take back their nationals living in Bangladesh, reports UNB.
He made the remark when he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Ganobhaban in the city.
PM's press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.
The Netherlands envoy highly appraised the economic development of Bangladesh and mentioned that he will work to strengthen the relations between the two countries further.
"Bangladesh has immense opportunity to develop further in agricultural sector," Harry said.
He mentioned that the Netherlands is helping Bangladesh materialise the Delta Plan 2100 saying both the countries have a common long-term Delta Plan.
Harry handed over a letter of Queen Maxima to the PM.
Welcoming the newly appointed envoy in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina recalled the support of the Netherlands during the Liberation War of the country.
She deeply appreciated its support in formulation of the Delta Plan 2100 and sought further assistance for its implementation.
The PM also sought Dutch support in water management and preventing river erosion.
She said the government is establishing 100 special economic zones across the country and invited foreign investment.
Talking about agricultural sector, the PM stressed the need for expanding the agriculture market to create more opportunities to sell agro-based commodities.
About the repatriation of Rohingyas, the PM said, China and India are building houses in Rakhaine for the Rohingya people, while Japan also expressed desire to extend cooperation in this regard.
Meanwhile, Japan has reiterated its continued support for the safe and voluntary return and resettlement of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Japan also highly commended Bangladesh's humanitarian support to the displaced Myanmar nationals.
The issue came up for discussions at the second Foreign Office Consultation (FOC) between Bangladesh and Japan held in Tokyo on Monday. The first FOC was held in Dhaka on February 2015.
Japan will further promote the Japan-Bangladesh comprehensive partnership and continue to fully support Bangladesh's development on all fronts so that the country can attain the status of a middle-income country by 2021, said Senior Deputy Minister of at Japanese Foreign Ministry Kazuyuki Yamazaki.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque is leading a 10-member delegation to Japan for the Foreign Secretary level dialogue.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan Rabab Fatima, and representatives from other ministries were also present during the discussion, according to the Foreign Ministry .
The FOC reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and took stock of the implementation status of decisions taken in the past at different levels of the two governments.
Consensus was reached to strengthen economic and commercial relations, and to explore new areas of cooperation.
The Foreign Secretary expressed the hope that Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (Big-B) Initiative will accelerate cooperation for the development of quality infrastructure and the investment environment in Bangladesh and will strengthen regional connectivity.
He urged Japan's support to set up skills and Japanese language training center in Bangladesh to train potential Bangladeshi workers for recruitment in highly skilled and less skilled sectors under Japan's newly adopted immigration law.
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