Austria wants to boost bilateral cooperation with Bangladesh in various sectors, especially trade and investment and technology transfers, and start direct international flights between Dhaka and Vienna.

Visiting Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl yesterday issued these statements after holding bilateral talks with Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen at the state guest house Meghna in the capital.

She also said her government will remain beside Bangladesh in resolving the Rohingya crisis because they also understand the burden of refugees on the society and state of the host country from what they are also experiencing now.

“We are delighted to work together. We have a long relationship with Bangladesh. Austrian companies are interested in establishing their roots and finding their prospects in all strata,” Kneissl said.

Lauding Bangladesh’s achievements in the past decade, she said, “The per capita income has increased three times and Bangladesh has moved on from being a least developed country to a developing country.”

“The citizens from Bangladesh are working around the globe, particularly the Middle East and Europe. Apart from the textiles industry, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister has laid out a development plan to move more and more into digitalisation,” she said.

“But digitalisation needs a lot of wisdom because otherwise there is always a risk of losing employment places. Digitalisation is the gateway to economic development but it has to be done with lots of wisdom,” she observed.

Honouring the tremendous efforts by Bangladesh to take care of the Rohingyas, she said, “I would like to pay tribute to the tremendous efforts that both the government and Bangladesh people have done in providing humanitarian aid to the Rohingya ethnic group from Myanmar. We would like to contribute half a million euros as humanitarian aid to the Rohingya community.”

Asked a query on the resolution of the crisis, she said, “Austria by itself is not in a position to exercise the leverage. It can only be a common effort. We have to work together to address the crisis.” “We have also welcomed the highest number of refugees in Austria. We know the burden that it has on the society and on the state authority,” she added.

Regarding the recruitment of Bangladeshi citizens to Austria, she said, “Bangladeshi citizens are working in Austria. The matter is up to the individual company. The Austrian government does not recruit manpower.”