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Bangladesh will seek greater Malaysian investment and increased manpower recruitment from the country apart from signing four deals during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said in Dhaka yesterday. |
The prime minister to leave Dhaka for Malaysia today on a three-day visit and will have a meeting with her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak tomorrow at Putrajaya, the administrative capital of the Southeast Asian country.
During the meeting, the two leaders will discuss ways to strengthen ties in the areas of trade, tourism, culture, human resource development, higher education apart from touching upon regional and international issues of
interest, Ali said.
Hasina will lead a 30-member delegation comprising the foreign minister, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan and high government officials.
She will also take part in a discussion with Malaysian investors to seek more investment in Bangladesh in the prospective areas.
Malaysia has so far invested $1.7bn in 103 projects in Bangladesh, said the foreign minister.
Responding to a question on the huge trade gap between the two countries, Ali said they will also focus on boosting export to Malaysia.
The bilateral trade between the two countries stood $2.20bn in 2013-2014 fiscal year. Bangladesh imported products worth $2.08bn while exported only $135mn.
“Discussions will be there to minimise the trade imbalance,” said the foreign minister.
Malaysia is one of the largest labour markets for Bangladesh as some 450,000 Bangladeshis are working there, he said, adding that Bangladesh will give a special focus on increasing the number of recruitments from Bangladesh.
Ali also said Bangladesh will also discuss to legalise the Bangladeshis, if anybody is left from the legalisation process.
