THE official bilateral talks between Bangladesh and South Korea held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Dhaka on Sunday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her South Korean counterpart Lee Nak-yeon led their respective sides. After the talks, a number of bilateral instruments on trade, investment and cultural fronts were signed. Hasina also hosted a banquet dinner in honour of the state guest.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr Lee Nak-yeon arrived in Dhaka on his first official visit. Bangladesh is his first destination as part of his four-nation tour from July 13-21, aimed at strengthening Seoul’s ties with Central and Southwest Asia with a balanced diplomacy in the Middle East. He is also scheduled to visit Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar. In his two-day visit, he yesterday paid homage to the independence heroes at the National Martyrs’ Memorial in Savar and later visited Youngone Hi-tech Sportswear Ltd in EPZ. He will leave Dhaka on Monday.
Meanwhile, the visiting South Korean Premier has expressed his country’s desire to take Bangladesh-Korea ties to the next level through stronger collaboration in key areas to bring mutual prosperity. The Korean PM cleared his stance while addressing the Bangladesh-Korea Business Forum with a theme “Promoting Business Ties Today: Bringing Mutual Prosperity Tomorrow” in the city on yesterday. He highly appreciated Bangladesh’s significant progress over the past years and laid emphasis on cooperation in three major areas — energy and infrastructure and ICT — diversifying products to boost Bangladesh’s export beyond the readymade garment industry.
We do cordially welcome South Korean PM. Both countries have been maintaining diplomatic and friendly relations for a long time. Official diplomatic relations with South Korea was established under the auspices of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1973 and Seoul opened its embassy in Dhaka in early 1975. The bilateral trade between two countries now stands at US$ 1.5 billion. In the latest effort, the FBCCI (Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries) and KITA (Korea International Trade Association) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen economic and commercial relations. South Korea mostly supports Bangladesh through grants, soft loans and technical cooperation. Besides, its development arm, KOICA, mainly focuses on health, education, transportation and ICT.
Hopefully, the mutual friendly relations with Seoul will be strengthened in the future.
