President Tran Dai Quang engaged in bilateral meetings with Bangladeshi leaders in the capital city of Dhaka on March 5 during his ongoing State visit. 

President Tran Dai Quang (R) and Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon. 

Meeting Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the Vietnamese leader stated that Vietnam always bears in mind valuable support that the two countries offered to each other in the past national liberation and development at present. 

He wished that the two nations will further reinforce their pragmatic ties across many fields to bring practical benefits to the two peoples.

In order to maximize potential and strength of each nation, President Quang suggested Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury promote the exchange of high-ranking visits and meetings while joining hands in organising activities marking the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties. 

He also proposed maintaining and effectively implementing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, exchanging and seeking opportunities to materialise specific measures in order to raise bilateral trade and create favourable conditions for the business communities to share information and experience, support each other in agriculture and seafood, enhance cooperation in education, training and tourism, and soon launch a direct flight route.

The President shared his host’s views on the need to intensify parliamentary and people-to-people exchange, and welcomed Bangladesh’s establishment of the Bangladesh-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Group. 

During a reception for Chairman of the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh Rashed Khan Menon, the President believed that the party will devise proper policies to further strengthen its role on political arena and develop left-wing and workers’ movements. 

The Communist Party of Vietnam attaches importance to traditional friendship with the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh, he said, suggesting that both sides should continue the exchange of visits to share information and Party building experience, working closely together in multilateral political forums in the region and the world. 

Menon wished to boost cooperation in sharing theoretical, Party and national development experience with Vietnam.

He vowed to actively support the implementation of high-level agreements reached by the two nations.

During the reception for President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Shafiul Islam, President Quang hailed the organization’s role in accelerating the economic ties between the two countries.

“Vietnam always places importance to promoting the traditional friendship and sound cooperation with Bangladesh,” he stressed, affirming the country’s willingness to share experience in fields of its strength.

He expressed his wishes to continue fostering the bilateral relations in a productive and practical manner to meet the people’s aspirations.

As the economic ties are yet to match the two countries’ potential, he suggested the two business circles making greater efforts and the FBCCI doing as a bridge for businesses of the two countries.

He also asked the FBCCI to continue working with Vietnamese ministries, sectors and localities to realize the two sides’ business plans.

Shafiul Islam said his organization is interested in economic, trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam.

The FBCCI has sent many delegations to Vietnam to research the market and seek business opportunities and wanted big groups from Vietnam, like Viettel, to increase investments in telecommunications, information technology, agriculture, and textile in Bangladesh, whose market has 170 million people, he said.

President Tran Dai Quang meets Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid

President Tran Dai Quang (R) meets Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid.

President Tran Dai Quang met President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid in the capital city of Dhaka on March 5 (local time) during his State visit to the country from March 4-6. 

The Vietnamese leader expressed his belief that Bangladesh will successfully hold the general election by 2019 and soon achieve the goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2021.

Hamid said the hospitality of Vietnamese leaders and people made a great impression on him during his visit to Vietnam in 2015. He also lauded Vietnam’s socio-economic development in recent years.

The leaders stressed on the need to promote the long-standing relations between the two countries and highly spoke of the two sides having agreed specific measures in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, investment, agriculture, education and science and technology to unleash their potential for enhanced cooperation.

They agreed on the need for Vietnam and Bangladesh to continue their mutual support at regional and international forums, and intensify their coordination in issues of shared concern, for the sake of each nation, as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

The same day, President Abdul Hamid and his spouse hosted a banquet for President Quang, his spouse, and the accompanying entourage.

Vietnamese, Bangladeshi leaders hold talks

President Tran Dai Quang and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

President Tran Dai Quang and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed to exert greater efforts to double the two countries’ two-way trade, which stood at nearly 900 million USD in 2017, during their talks in Dhaka on March 5.

At the talks, which took place during the State visit to Bangladesh by President Tran Dai Quang from March 4-6, the leaders outlined major orientations as well as specific measures for bilateral relations across sectors in the future.

To that end, they said that the two countries should bring into full play their advantages to gain better cooperative results as both are potential markets with huge population, young labour force and dynamic business communities, and the gate way of Southeast Asia and South Asia.

PM Hasina stated she is impressed by Vietnam’s socio-economic development achievements, believing that President Quang’s visit on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties will open up more opportunities to raise the relations into a new height.

Both host and guest discussed the possibility of cooperation in garment and textiles, leather shoes and leather products, food processing and pharmaceuticals on the basis of each country’s strengths, while pledging to speed up the opening of a direct air route connecting the two countries.

The Bangladeshi leader committed to creating all favourable conditions to help Vietnamese enterprises expand investments in her nation.

She expressed her hope to learn from Vietnam’s experience in agricultural production, affirming to continue importing Vietnamese rice.

The two leaders reached a consensus on strengthening collaboration in defence, security, education, tourism, culture and people-to-people diplomacy, and maintaining good relationship at regional and international forums, including the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN Region Forum, and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Discussing regional and global situations of mutual concern, they expressed their support for the promotion of peace, stability, security, and aviation and maritime freedom and safety in the East Sea, as well as the settlement of disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, and the formation of a practical Code of Conduct in the East Sea.

President Quang took this occasion to invite PM Hasina to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of several cooperative documents: a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on aquaculture and husbandry cooperation during 2018-2022 between the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Bangladesh’s Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, an MoU on machinery manufacturing cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Bangladesh’s Ministry of Industries, and an agreement on cultural exchange programmes between Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Bangladesh’s Ministry of Culture.

At the post-talks press conference, PM Hasina stressed that Vietnam is one of the closest neighbors of Bangladesh, which shares the same aspirations of promoting peace and development, as well as similarities in terms of culture and traditional social values with her country. 

She affirmed the Bangladeshi Government encourages enterprises of the two countries to seek business and investment opportunities in each other’s markets.

The Bangladeshi Government wishes to set up a dialogue partnership by sector with ASEAN, and join the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation forum, she said. 

Highlighting the fruitful development of the bilateral relations, President Quang stressed that on the solid basis of the diplomatic ties over the past 45 years, and great potentials of the two nations, the leaders agreed to seek suitable measures for creating breakthroughs, towards deepening the bilateral relations in a more intensive, practical and effective manner, for the sake of their people. 

He said along with agreeing on key orientations for the relations, many specific measures have been outlined to promote cooperation across fields from politics-diplomacy; defence-security; economy-trade-investment; agriculture – breeding; to education-training; culture and tourism. 

The two sides will enhance exchange of high-level visits and fully tap bilateral cooperation mechanisms, as well as exploit possibilities of connections in defence-security, especially in defence industry, logistics and military health care, he noted. 

Meanwhile, they also proposed ways to lift the two-way trade to 2 billion USD in 2020, as well as considered the possibility of forming joint ventures, associations, and production chains; and apply high technologies in agricultural production, he added. 

President Quang praised Bangladesh for its support for Vietnam's candidacy to the UN International Law Committee for the 2017-2021 tenure and to the Executive Council of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 2017-2021. 

On the morning of the same day, President Quang and his entourage paid a floral tribute to the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar, which commemorates anonymous martyrs that scarified their lives for Bangladesh’s independence and freedom. 

The Vietnamese delegation also laid a wreath at the National Memorial Museum in Dhaka which commemorates Bangladesh’s Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – the first President of the country.

VNA