Shahriar Alam met Francisco André

Dhaka, 31 May 2022 :

            State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam had a bilateral meeting with the Secretary of State (State Minister) for Foreign Affairs & Cooperation of Portugal Dr. Francisco André over a luncheon hosted by the Portuguese side in Lisbon yesterday.

The meeting figured exchange of views on enhancing the bilateral relations in various spheres as well as on some regional and global issues.

            State Minister Alam apprised the Secretary of State about the sustained social and economic development of Bangladesh under the watch of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

            Bangladesh State Minister raised the issue of the need of easing the existing visa complexities in absence of a Portuguese resident Diplomatic Mission in Dhaka and offered every assistance for ensuring periodic consular services provided to Dhaka.

The Portuguese Secretary of State commended the Bangladesh expatriate community residing in Portugal as “respected, well integrated community contributing significantly to the Portuguese society” and concurred to the suggestions offered.

He assured of his personal intervention to create positive conditions for Bangladeshi immigrants to work and stay in Portugal. Bangladesh State Minister thanked his counterpart for the continued patronage extended to the Bangladeshi expatriates and praised Portugal for their immigrant friendly approaches.

He proposed to the State Secretary to work together to chart an orderly and transparent pathway for Bangladeshi citizens to come and work in Portugal under an agreed framework.

            The Portuguese State Secretary extended his invitation for Bangladesh to participate in the
 ÔSecond UN Ocean ConferenceÕ to be held from 27^th June to 1^st July 2022. Bangladesh State Minister informed of a possible attendance of a high-level delegation led by the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh.

            As a likeminded nation subscribing to multilateralism and human rights protection, the Portuguese State Minister sought Bangladesh’s support for their candidature at the United Nations Security Council for the term 2027-28.

            State Minister Alam expressed his satisfaction on the progress of negotiations on quite a number of agreements in the area of culture, education, direct shipping and the avoidance of double taxation.

The two sides also discussed future cooperation agenda, including high level exchanges, holding Political Consultations at regular intervals and activities to mark the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh-Portugal Diplomatic Relations in 2024.

The two State Ministers also agreed to deepen cooperation on shipping connectivity, clean energy including green hydrogen, migration and obility, Blue Economy, exchange of culture, language and knowledge, people to people linkage and enhanced exchange between officials through Diplomatic and language training programmes.

            Bangladesh State Minister extended an invitation to Secretary of State André to visit Bangladesh, which was accepted with pleasure.

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