C T Online Desk: Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen is now visiting Port Louis, Mauritius on an official tour from 13-15 February 2022.
Today, Foreign Secretary along with his entourage visited Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Street located in the heart of the city, in Plaine Verte and paid tribute to the greatest Bangalee of all time Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Ambassador Masud paid courtesy calls on the Foreign Minister Alan GANOO and his counterpart Haymandoyal Dillum at the foreign minister’s office.
At the very outset, he expressed his sincere gratitude to the government of Mauritius for naming ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Street’ in Plaine Verte in honour of the Father of the Nation.
Ambassador Masud sought support from the Mauritius government for fulfilling the tenure successfully as the current chair of IORA.
As the current chair and Mauritius being the host of IORA, Ambassador Masud mentioned that both the countries can infuse new ideas and undertake collaborative projects where development partners are keen to invest.
Mauritian Foreign Secretary emphasized tourism, fisheries and ocean economy –three cluster areas of cooperation to work together under IORA.
Mauritian Foreign Minister and the Foreign Secretary stressed the need for regular exchange of high-level government visits, visits of businessmen from both sides that will create conducive environment and confidence among the stake holders to collaborate on different areas closely.
Ambassador Masud highlighted the importance of MOU on Foreign Office Consultation between Bangladesh and Mauritius and invited his counterpart to visit Bangladesh at a mutually convenient time to sign the MOU.
This instrument will provide a platform to discuss the whole gamut of bilateral issues, identify possible areas of cooperation and regular follow up.
Both the foreign Secretaries stressed upon completion of all pending instruments.
Mauritian Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary highlighted close collaboration on the Tourism sector. Tourism is the economic life line of Mauritius. Mauritian economy was badly hit due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Foreign Secretary replied that in order to promote tourism, visa processing must be made easier.
He proposed to appoint an Honorary Consul in Bangladesh to ease consular and visa processing or a Consular Officer from Mauritian Embassy in New Delhi could visit Dhaka at a regular interval for visa purposes or online visa facilities can be introduced.
Foreign Secretary also stressed the need for direct air connectivity for promoting tourism.
He also emphasized on concluding the air service agreement between the two countries.
Ambassador Masud stated that Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in agriculture including fisheries and livestock. Bangladesh has specialized training institutions on agricultural sector.
He offered training program (short/ long term) for Mauritian farmers and technical hands.
Ambassador Masud expressed appreciation that Mauritius is hosting a good number of Bangladeshi expatriates working there.
Mauritius Foreign Minister praised a lot about the Bangladeshi workers that they are hardworking, law abiding and fast learners.
Foreign Secretary extended sincere thanks to Mauritian Foreign Minister for arranging vaccines for the Bangladeshi expatriate workers during the Covid pandemic.
Mauritian Foreign Secretary urged Bangladeshi pharmaceutical companies to invest in Mauritius.
Mauritius- being the gateway to other African countries would help the pharmaceutical companies export to other African countries as well. Ambassador Masud underscored that contract farming can be an area of investment in Mauritius.
He expressed Bangladesh´s keenness to invest in contract farming.
Ambassador Masud mentioned that Bangladesh has the second largest free-lance IT experts in the world. Mauritius can tap the potential of Bangladeshi IT experts.
Bangladesh govt has the Access to Information (A 2 I) project through which many services have been reached out to the door steps of rural areas.
Ambassador Masud offered such services to Mauritius. In response, Mauritian Foreign Secretary expressed their willingness to engage with Bangladesh on the IT sector.
Ambassador Masud expressed gratitude to the government of Mauritius for their consistent support on the Rohingya issue.
Other areas namely fishing, aquaculture and blue economy were also at the core of discussion in a bid to promote cooperation between the two countries.
Later, Ambassador Masud paid an official visit to the Secretariat of IORA for the first time after assuming Chairship of IORA.
He held a session with the newly appointed Secretary General H.E. Salman Al Farisi and all staff of the Secretariat.
Ambassador Masud has given guidelines and infuse new ideas to make the Secretariat more active, vibrant and target oriented.
Mr. Md. Khurshed Alam, Secretary (MAU) who has been playing instrumental role in preserving Bangladesh´s interest in IORA, accompanied the Foreign Secretary.
Mauritius Foreign Minister invited a Bangladeshi delegation to be led by the Foreign Minister including Businessmen, IT experts and private entrepreneurs to explore the possible areas of collaboration and investment.
The Bangladesh Foreign Secretary invited both the Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary to visit Bangladesh this year at their convenience.
