Dutch participation in BD\\\'s mega dev projects assured

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has assured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of participating in more development projects in Bangladesh, including building a deep seaport at Sonadia Island. The Netherlands premier came up with the assurance at a meeting with PM Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the 10th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Summit-2014 at Milano Congressi in the Italian city of Milan on Thursday evening (Italian time). After the meeting, Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque briefed reporters. Appreciating Bangladesh’s successes in socioeconomic development in the last 1 decade, the Dutch Prime Minister expressed optimism that Bangladesh is going to be one of the next 11 members in terms of achieving economic prosperity. Rutte described Bangladesh’s innovation in agricultural research and development as well as experience in addressing climate change and flood as unique, and said the Netherlands has a lot to learn from Bangladesh. In this connection, the Dutch PM said his country wants to follow innovative and greener way of addressing floods without constructing embankments, according to a news agency.