Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs emphasized that, amid many regional and international challenges, Vietnam and Bangladesh need to strengthen cooperation and elevate bilateral relations to a new height in the coming period.

Implementing an agreement between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, on the morning of 14 May in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet and Bangladeshi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Masud Bin Momen co-chaired the second session of Political Consultations between Vietnam and Bangladesh.

The Political Consultations were attended by officials from the two countries’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs and a number of Bangladeshi ministries and agencies, as well as the Embassy of Vietnam in Bangladesh.

At the Political Consultations, the two sides shared updates on the situation, strategies and directions for socio-economic development in each country, discussed measures to strengthen bilateral relations across various fields, and exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The two sides agreed that Vietnam and Bangladesh share a history of national liberation struggles and now have much in common in their economic development, and can share experience, learn from and support each other.

Over 50 years since the establishment of relations (11 February 1973 – 11 February 2023), the friendship between the two countries has remained strong, with the leaders and peoples of both nations always holding warm feelings for one another, underpinned by high political trust that forms a solid foundation for promoting cooperation across all fields.

On that basis, the two sides agreed to jointly build a long-term vision for bilateral relations, promote exchanges of high-level and other-level visits, strengthen periodic meetings of existing cooperation mechanisms, and consider soon restarting, strengthening and upgrading the Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural and Scientific-Technical Cooperation in the coming period.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense and security, economy, trade and investment, education, agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry, and to enhance cultural and tourism exchanges; they also agreed to have relevant ministries and agencies on both sides step up the review and extension of cooperation documents such as the Memorandum of Understanding on Rice Trade Cooperation, the Memorandum of Understanding on Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Cooperation, the Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism Cooperation, and the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Machinery Manufacturing, to draw up a cultural exchange program for the new period, and to sign new Memoranda of Understanding on Information Technology Cooperation and on Trade Promotion Cooperation.

The two sides affirmed that economic cooperation still holds great potential.

Bangladesh is currently Vietnam’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia, with bilateral trade having grown fourfold over 10 years (from about USD 350 million in 2012 to roughly USD 1.5 billion in 2022), moving toward the USD 2 billion target set by the two countries’ leaders and beyond; on that basis, the two sides agreed to encourage relevant ministries, agencies and the business communities of both countries to increase exchanges of trade promotion delegations, explore markets, study products and sectors of mutual potential, and promote the opening of direct flights connecting the two countries to facilitate greater cooperation and exchange.

Bangladesh proposed that Vietnam consider investing in Bangladesh’s industrial parks and software technology parks, affirming that Vietnamese investors would receive many incentives; it welcomed Vietnam increasing exports of its strong products to the Bangladeshi market, such as agricultural machinery, raw materials, household goods, electronics, and processed agricultural and aquatic products.

The two sides shared views in a spirit of trust and openness on the current regional and international situation, as well as issues of climate change, disaster management and mitigation, water security, energy security, and migration.

The two sides highly valued the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in addressing regional issues. Bangladesh affirmed its wish to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN and is actively pursuing substantive cooperation with ASEAN to accelerate the process of being considered a sectoral dialogue partner.

The two sides agreed to strengthen coordination at regional and international forums, support each other’s candidacies, and share views and positions at forums of developing countries such as the Non-Aligned Movement and South-South Cooperation, in order to amplify their voice and promote solidarity, self-reliance and resilience among countries in the region.

Earlier, on the afternoon of 13 May, Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet paid a courtesy call on Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shariar Alam.

The Deputy Minister congratulated Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and State Minister Shariar Alam personally, on successfully chairing the sixth Indian Ocean Conference, noting that the conference had achieved important results, contributing to the process of peace, cooperation and confidence-building in the Indo-Pacific region.

State Minister Shariar Alam expressed his pleasure that the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs had resumed Political Consultations after a six-year hiatus; he stressed that amid many regional and international challenges, Vietnam and Bangladesh need to strengthen cooperation and elevate bilateral relations to a new height in the coming period, while coordinating closely, supporting each other and actively contributing to shared regional and international issues./.