Bangladesh and Indonesia held their first-ever Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) on Thursday with two sides comprehensively reviewing the present status of the bilateral relation.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary and director general for the Asia Pacific and Africa Masud Bin Momen and Ambassador of Indonesia Abdul Kadir Jailani led the respective delegations at the Consultations in the capital, according to a foreign ministry statement.
They agreed to complete the signing of pending MoUs and agreements on a fast-track basis, pursue sector-specific agenda and do the needful to expand the volume of bilateral trade and investment.
both sides also stressed the early signing of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
Bangladesh asked Indonesia for duty-free access of its readymade garments and not to impose safeguard measures on its textile products.
With regard to the huge trade imbalance which is in favour of Indonesia, the two countries agreed to exchange business delegations and organise frequent single country and single product trade fairs.
Bangladesh sought market access to Indonesia’s Halal trade and investment at the Consultations.
Foreign Secretary Momen also suggested that the two countries can expand technical cooperation in the extraction of marine resources, deep-sea fishing and protection of coastal zones.
Both sides agreed to promote cooperation on combatting corruption, counter-terrorism, science and technology, export promotion, defence cooperation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, ethical migration, parliamentary exchange, and pursuing sustainable development goals.
It was noted with satisfaction that general passport holders can now visit both countries ‘free’ which is expected to boost the tourism sectors of both nations, read the statement.
Bangladesh sought Indonesia’s continued support on Rohingya repatriation.
Indonesia assured to support Bangladesh over the Rohingya issue.
The two foreign ministries also signed an MoU on Cooperation on Diplomatic Capacity Building at the Consultations.
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