Today, at a bilateral meeting between Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin and his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in this city, Dhaka and Jakarta agreed to cooperate in the fields of energy, agriculture, and health.
“Bangladesh and Indonesia earlier singed three MoUs (memorandum of understanding) on energy and health sectors that created huge opportunity to work for welfare of the two countries,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said in a media briefing after the meeting.
The president of Bangladesh is now in Indonesia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 43rd summit and the 18th “East Asia summit” at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).
At the bilateral meeting, Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin reportedly conveyed his sincere gratitude to his Indonesian counterpart for hosting him and showing the Bangladesh delegation exceptional hospitality.
The progress of the health sector in Bangladesh, particularly the concept of the “Community Clinic” created by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was highly praised by the president of Indonesia.
He also mentioned Bangladesh’s remarkable progress in a number of socioeconomic fields.
According to Mohammed Shahabuddin, Bangladesh is a source for ready-made garments (RMG) items, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals that meet international standards.
Due to Bangladesh’s consistent investment-friendly environment over the past ten years, he also welcomed Indonesian investors to make significant investments there.
“An initiative is there to ensure a mutual decision to recognize the certificate of the physicians of the two countries,” Dr Momen quoted the President as saying at the bilateral talks.
Mohammed Shahabuddin noted that Bangladesh is setting up as many as 100 Special Economic Zones (SEZs), 39 Hi-Tech Parks and other specialized Economic Zones in the country.
He said, “If Indonesia is interested, Bangladesh would be happy to designate a place in economic zone for it”.
Being at the intersection of South Asia and South East Asia, Bangladesh hopes to become a manufacturing centre and its target is to have a trillion-dollar economy by the end of this decade, he said.
The president of Bangladesh emphasized the need for greater private sector cooperation between the two nations in order to take advantage of investment prospects.
