Foreign Secretary Ambassador Md. Jashim Uddin met State Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Mr. Vladimír Mana at the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Prague.
During the meeting, both sides reviewed ongoing economic cooperation between the two countries, and underscored the need for trade diversification in areas of both import and export. Foreign Secretary apprised the State Secretary of the incentives and facilities offered by the Government of Bangladesh for the foreign investors and requested him to encourage the Czech investors to invest in Bangladesh. Foreign Secretary further expressed interest of Bangladesh to sign an agreement on Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Bilateral Investments between Bangladesh and the Czech Republic. He mentioned that Bangladesh has a huge pool of IT professionals, and invited Czech Republic to recruit them in IT sectors. He also highlighted the necessity of functional interaction between the business delegations/ Chambers of the two countries.
Foreign Secretary stated that Bangladesh is committed to upholding the objectives of the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation signed between Bangladesh and the Czech Republic in 2019, and requested to hold the first meeting of the Joint Commission on Trade Promotion and Economic Cooperation soon in order to achieve the objectives of the agreement. Czech State Secretary reaffirmed commitment of his government to work closely with Bangladesh to enhance bilateral economic ties, and proposed to convene the First Meeting of the Joint Commission on Trade Promotion and Economic Cooperation between Bangladesh and the Czech Republic in second half of the next year.
Foreign Secretary briefed the State Secretary about the ongoing EU-Bangladesh initiatives, especially the recent negotiations on the Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). He further mentioned that Bangladesh is looking forward to the opportunity to qualify for the EU’s new trade preferences, particularly the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), following the post-transition period beginning in 2029, and sought Czech technical support for meeting EU regulatory standards in labor and environmental compliance to secure GSP+ benefits post-LDC graduation.
State Secretary termed Bangladesh as an important partner of the Czech Republic, and expressed interest to work together with Bangladesh in areas of supply chain, connectivity, cooperation in Indo-Pacific, cyber security, among others.