State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam held bilateral talks with Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa Candith Mashego Dlamini in Pretoria on Friday during his official visit to South Africa.
At the meeting, State Minister Shahriar Alam, mentioning the excellent existing relations between the two countries, stated that Bangladesh and South Africa have common objectives of socio-economic development and huge potentials lie to develop the trade and investment relations.
Referring to his meeting with the Business Unity South Africa which took place on Thursday, the State Minister said that the chambers' organisation has shown interest in working with Bangladeshi chambers.
He expressed hope that with mutual efforts, the bilateral trade may be enhanced to the tune of one billion dollars. He proposed formation of a Bangladesh-South Africa business council comprising different chamber officials and businessmen to assess business potentials and discuss business matters.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa Dlamini referred to the recent high level visits that took place between Bangladesh and South Africa recently. She mentioned that both the South African and Bangladeshi peoples are resilient and enterprising.
She underlined more cooperation in trade and economic areas between Bangladesh and South Africa.
She welcomed Bangladeshi investors to invest in tourism, textiles and other sectors in South Africa.
State Minister Shahriar Alam thanked the South African government for their support in favour of Bangladesh's candidature at the UN and sought support for few other candidatures. He also thanked the South African government for their support on the Rohingya issue and sought their cooperation for the repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingya people to their homeland.
Both sides agreed to continue working together to develop the bilateral relations to further heights.
The High Commissioner of Bangladesh to South Africa and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh were present at the meeting.
