Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud on Wednesday said that he has discussed multidimensional cooperation between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom (UK) during a meeting with British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke.
"We have discussed on how we would further deepen the ties between Bangladesh and the UK," he told reporters after the meeting at the foreign ministry in Dhaka.
The minister said that they discussed on cooperation between central banks of the two countries to check inflation, and in ICT sector, cyber security, climate change and Rohingya repatriation.
"On climate change front, we are working with the UK both locally and in the international forums," he said.
Terming Britain as one of the major development partners, Hasan said the UK has a significant investment in Bangladesh.
Responding to a question, he said that repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar with citizen rights is the only solution of the crisis while they discussed on requirement of huge funds to ensure basic amenities for the huge number of displaced people.
Replying to another question on the human rights issue, he said that human rights is a global issue and every country is working for improvement in this area.
"We will defiantly work with the UK on human rights front," he added.
The foreign minister said he also urged the envoy to ease the process of family reunion of the Bangladeshi expatriates staying the in the UK.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, British High Commissioner Cooke said that the UK would work with Bangladesh to further strengthen Dhaka-London ties on trade and security partnership fronts.
"I had a very productive meeting with the minister," she said describing her maiden talk with the newly appointed Bangladesh foreign minister.
"We discussed working together, strengthening UK Bangladesh ties, boosting our trade and investment, strengthening our security partnership," she said.
The envoy also said the UK would work together with Bangladesh on challenges such as climate change, migration and welfare of Rohingya.
She said they will also continue to engage constructively with the Bangladesh government and political parties on democracy and human rights issues.
Cameron congratulates Hasan
During their meeting, the British high commissioner also handed over a letter from UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron to Hasan Mahmud.
In the letter, Cameron congratulated Hasan on his appointment as Bangladesh's new foreign minister.
"I look forward to working with you, building on our deep shared history, people-to-people ties and wide-ranging shared interests and values," he wrote in the congratulatory letter to his Bangladesh counterpart.
Cameron said that the recent statement issued by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office reflected these values and set out the UK's views on democracy and human rights.
"We will continue to engage constructively with you on these issues," he wrote.
In the letter, Cameron also said that the Bangladesh-UK bilateral relationship is evolving from being development-focused, to a modern economic, security and migration partnership.
"I hope that by working together we can boost our trade and investment ties, strengthen our security partnership and collaborate on global and regional challenges such as climate change, a free and open Indo-Pacific and the welfare of the Rohingya refugees," he said.
He also attached great importance to progressing cooperation on addressing illegal migration, including from Bangladesh.
"I look forward to hearing your priorities for our relationship and to working together to deliver our mutual interests," Cameroon said.
