Cambodia, on Thursday, assured its cooperation in resolving the Rohingya crisis and bolstering trade ties with Bangladesh.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said this following the join consultation (JC) meeting with the visiting Cambodian delegation at the state guest house Meghna in the capital.
Bangladesh sought Cambodia's support on the Rohingya repatriation issue in the meeting.
The state minister said Cambodian side was highly appreciative of the government of Bangladesh for providing shelter to the persecuted people from Rakhine state and assured to support repatriation process within the framework of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
"They hoped that Bangladesh's bilateral consultations with Myanmar would lead an early solution to the problem," Mr Alam said.
Shahriar led an 18-member Bangladesh delegation at the JC meeting while from the Cambodian side a 27-member delegation was led by Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Eat Sophea.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing the JC framework was signed in Dhaka in June 2014 during the visit of the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The state minister said two sides comprehensively discussed the present state of bilateral relations covering areas such as trade and investment, agriculture and fisheries, science and technology, culture, defence, information and communication technology (ICT), tourism, and parliamentary friendship.
Both sides stressed the need for expanding bilateral trade and investment and sharing each other's practices and strategies in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he added.
The meeting decided that the Technical Working Group Meeting on training cooperation will be held in Dhaka soon.
To implement the MoU on tourism both sides decided to convene the first meeting of the Joint Working Group in Cambodia shortly, a foreign office spokesperson said.
Both sides underscored the importance of direct air connectivity and stressed the need for early signing of the Air Services Agreement.
Bangladesh handed over to the Cambodian side a three-year Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) to celebrate the Mujib Year jointly in both countries.
It was agreed that the Liberation War Museum of Bangladesh and the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum of Cambodia would share best practices through arrangement of joint seminars and sharing of best practices.
Both sides welcomed the finalisation of the proposed MoU on Defence Cooperation under which members of armed forces of both countries would take part in various training and capacity building programmes in the two countries.
The meeting decided that parliamentarians of two countries would take part in exchange programmes under the framework of the Bangladesh-Cambodia Parliamentary Friendship Group. At the meeting, an MoU on establishment of Foreign Office Consultations was also signed.
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Bangladesh Ambassador to Thailand concurrently accredited to Cambodia Md Nazmul Quaunine and Cambodian Ambassador to India concurrently accredited to Bangladesh Ung Sean also attended the JC meeting.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
