Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has requested his Indonesian counterpart to ease the market access for Bangladeshi ready-made garment (RMG) products to Indonesia.
At a meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Monday, Momen expressed satisfaction over the recent increase in bilateral trade volume between the two countries surpassing the $3 billion mark.
He, however, mentioned the stark imbalance between Bangladesh's import and export volumes, read an official handout issued on Tuesday.
"The gap can only be reduced by promoting export of Bangladeshi products to the Indonesian markets, especially the ones that Bangladesh has competitive advantage," the foreign minister said.
Recognising Indonesia as an important trade partner of Bangladesh in the ASEAN region, he said there was great potential to further enhance bilateral trade and investment, given the complementary strengths and resources.
Momen expressed his hope that the bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement between the two countries would be finalised soon.
During the meeting, the two foreign ministers discussed various aspects of bilateral relationship between the two countries, including cooperation in trade and investment and collaboration between the two countries in the international forums, Bangladesh's bid to become a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN and the issue of the repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (the Rohingyas) temporality sheltered in Bangladesh.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marsudi underscored the meteoric socio-economic development under the able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Noting that Bangladesh and Indonesia enjoy cultural similarity and a historical bond at the people-to-people level, she put emphasis on exploring new avenues of collaboration and partnership to build a stronger and more vibrant relationship between the two great nations.
Both ministers stressed on the potential of further enhancing collaboration to ensure energy and food security.
During the meeting, the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector. Momen also signed a bilateral MoU in agricultural cooperation on behalf of Bangladesh.
The energy sector MoU aims at promoting long-term sale and delivery of the conventional form of energy to and developing new and renewable energy sources and power plants in Bangladesh while the agriculture one is intended to foster collaboration in producing, marketing, promoting technology transfer and exchange of best practices in the field of agriculture.
Momen is now visiting Jakarta to accompany President Mohammed Shahabuddin who, at the invitation of President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, is participating in the 43rd ASEAN Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit – two grand events attended by top leaders from the Southeast Asian region and beyond.
