President Maithripala Sirisena returned to the Island Saturday (15) after completing a successful three-day state visit to Bangladesh at the invitation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.   

The visit helped strengthening the foreign relations and bringing many developmental benefits to the country by signing several MoUs between the two countries, the President’s Media Division said.  

The President and the Bangladesh Prime Minister drew their special attention regarding entering into a trade agreement between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as setting up special economic zones.

Sirisena and Hasina also welcomed the signing of the memorandum of understanding on economic partnership between the countries which they believed “should pave way for conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement by end-2017”.

If done, that would be the first FTA of Bangladesh with any country.

During the meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister, it was discussed in detail regarding introducing a new programme to exchange experiences in agricultural and fisheries sectors of both the countries as well as to jointly take actions against combating terrorism and to cooperate in the field of information technology. Furthermore, the attention was drawn to get the technical knowhow of Bangladesh to increase rice production in Sri Lanka.

The President also met with the Speaker of Bangladesh, Opposition Leader as well as the Minister of Health. The Speaker of Bangladesh commended the steps taken by the new Government to achieve the democratic goals.   

Furthermore, President Maithripala Sirisena participated as the Chief Guest of the Investment Forum held in Dhaka, with the participation of Sri Lanka as well as Bangladesh investors and entrepreneurs. This Forum was organized to explore new investments and business opportunities in Sri Lanka.

This is the first State Visit to Bangladesh by the President after he assumed office. The government of Bangladesh had prepared all the arrangements to accord him a grand welcome.

Bangladesh high level delegation including their Foreign Minister was at the Airport to bid farewell to the President.

Source: PMD