The Netherlands has expressed its interest in projects related to deep seaports in Bangladesh and the latter has taken note of it, assuring the government’s due consideration in this regard.Deep seaports high on agenda
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
The Netherlands has expressed its interest in projects related to deep seaports in Bangladesh and the latter has taken note of it, assuring the governments due consideration in this regard.
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands (Mark Rutte) expressed interest in Bangladeshs deep seaport projects. The Bangladesh Prime Minister noted the Dutch interest in the deep sea ports projects and assured the Dutch side of her governments due consideration of the port projects proposition, said the 11-point joint statement issued on Wednesday in the Hague on the outcome of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas official visit to the Netherlands on November 3-5.
Sheikh Hasina is the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh to visit the Netherlands, mentioned the joint statement. Apart from holding official talks with her Dutch counterpart, she met Dutch Queen Mxima as the UN Secretary Generals Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development,
Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Lilianne Ploumen and Infrastructure and Environment Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen.
On Wednesday, the two Prime Ministers had discussions on bilateral and global issues of mutual interest, including trade and investment, private sector development, agriculture, port development, rule of law and water management.
Both the leaders noted with satisfaction that Bangladesh and the Netherlands have developed a strong and mutually beneficial partnership at bilateral and multilateral levels. Recognising the long-standing relations between the two countries, they reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the relationship.
Hasina and Rutte acknowledged that both Bangladesh and the Netherlands are countries of deltaic nature and there exists immense scope of cooperation between the two countries in areas of delta management, water resources management and other related areas. In that context, they expressed satisfaction at the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) Towards Resilient and Sustainable Delta Management for a prosperous Bangladesh and a Letter of Intent on Cooperation in the field of Land Reclamation and Accretion in Bangladesh between the two countries in June 2015.
Prime Minister Hasina lauded the expertise of the Netherlands in delta management and thanked her Dutch counterpart for his countrys support in the development of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.
Hasina underscored the importance of an effective partnership arrangement with the Dutch government under the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 for long term capacity building through education and training.
In response, Rutte assured her of extending all cooperation for implementing the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 to make the delta safe and productive for the people.
The two heads of the government agreed to work together to make densely populated delta areas across the world safer and economically more viable in the framework of the Delta Coalition.
It was agreed between Hasina and Rutte that economic cooperation and trade are key elements for strengthening bilateral relations. They noted with satisfaction that the Netherlands is a leading export destination for Bangladeshi goods and one of the top foreign direct investment (FDI) sources for Bangladesh.
The two sides expressed the wish to increase bilateral trade and investment and Hasina apprised the Dutch Prime Minister of various measures taken and incentives offered to promote FDI in Bangladesh and invited Dutch investors to invest in the emerging sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, leather, agro-processing, light engineering, jute, shipbuilding, power and energy particularly renewable energy, infrastructure in water and marine sector, IT and tourism.
Prime Minister Hasina briefed Rutte of her governments measures to transform the readymade garments (RMG) sector into a model of sustainable industrialisation and asked for Dutch support to address the issues related to access to finance and fair pricing in the RMG sector of Bangladesh.
The Dutch side appreciated the Bangladesh governments strong commitment towards a sustainable RMG sector, encouraged the government of Bangladesh to play a leading role in the sector and assured Bangladesh of its cooperation.
The two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation between the two countries in various international fora, and agreed to forge closer cooperation in the United Nations and other international fora on issues of mutual interest.
Prime Minister Rutte thanked Bangladesh for the support for the non-permanent seat for the Netherlands in the UN Security Council for 2017-18.
Both the leaders described climate change as one the greatest challenges facing mankind and laid emphasis on addressing the adaptation and mitigation issues in a balanced manner, taking into account the challenges faced by vulnerable developing countries like Bangladesh.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the signing of four bilateral instruments that are expected to enhance cooperation between Dhaka and the Hague.
The instruments are: 1) Memorandum of Understanding on Foreign Office Consultations Between The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands And The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh; 2) Letter of Intent (LOI) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh on Training Cooperation for Junior Diplomats from Bangladesh; 3) Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between Saxion University of Applied Sciences, School of Creative Technology and BGMEA University of Fashion Technology and 4) Bilateral Cooperation Agreement/Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Saxion University of Applied Sciences and the BGMEA University of Fashion Technology.
