DHAKA: Resident Ambassadors and High Commissioners of seven ASEAN countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) jointly paid a courtesy visit to the Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, MP on Thursday morning.
The Envoys congratulated him on his appointment as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and wished him all the best in his current assignment.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali welcomed the Envoys to Foreign Ministry and thanked them for their gesture.
External Publicity Wing of Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release signed by Nripendra Chandra Debnath, Director (Media) in this connection.
It said: “The Envoys has apprised the Foreign Minister of newly formed ASEAN Dhaka Committee.”
It also said that Malaysian High Commissioner as the current Chair of ASEAN Dhaka Committee invited Foreign Minister to grace the inauguration ceremony of the Dhaka Committee scheduled in first week of April.
Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali commended their efforts in establishing the Dhaka committee and hoped that this would lead to Bangladesh becoming a dialogue partner of ASEAN soon.
Foreign Minister also expressed satisfaction over the signing of visa waiver agreements for diplomatic and official passport-holders with seven out of ten ASEAN Countries and expressed the hope that such agreements with rest of the ASEAN countries will follow soon.
While expressing great satisfaction at the current state of bilateral relations with ASEAN countries as a whole, Foreign Minister thanked the government of ASEAN countries for hosting around half a million Bangladeshi workers in the region and urged the Envoys to consider recruiting more Bangladeshi nationals - professional, skilled and semi-skilled- in their respective countries.
The envoys expressed the hope that during the tenure of Foreign Minister the cooperation between Bangladesh and their respective countries would be further strengthened and deepened for the overall prosperity of Bangladesh and the ASEAN region.
BDST: 2005 HRS, MAR 20, 2014
