October 24 this year. the first meeting of the Russian-Bangladesh Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economy, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, established on the basis of the relevant intergovernmental agreement of March 1, 2017, took place in Moscow. The agenda included issues of bilateral trade, banking operations, development of ICT, expansion of interaction in the energy sphere, fisheries, agriculture and education.

The Russian part of the commission was led by the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, head of the Federal agency for Fisheries, Mr. Ilya V. Shestakov. The Ambassador of Russia to Bangladesh Mr. Alexander I. Ignatov, the representatives of concerned ministries and agencies of our country responsible for its foreign policy, economy, agriculture, energy, industry, monetary and financial policy, as well as the specialists from the state corporations “Rosatom”, “Rostec” and JSC “Gazprom” were present as well. The Bangladeshi delegation was presided by the Senior Secretary, Head of Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Mr. K.S. Azam.

Mr. Ilya V. Shestakov highlighted the positive trends in bilateral trade. According to him, in 2017 the trade volume increased by 14%, hitting the record index of $ 1.645 bln. There are all the necessary conditions for increasing the mutual trade. In January-July 2018, the turnover between the two countries is amounted to $ 865.8 mln.

Mr. K.S. Azam, in his turn, expressed his gratitude for the hospitality extended to the Bangladeshi side, and noted Dhaka’s willingness to consistently carry out the decisions adopted at the meeting of the commission.

The Parties recognized the importance of intensification of the business contacts through the cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Mr. I.V. Shestakov paid the special to the favorable prospects of the bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector and the opportunities of increasing the supplies of wheat and mineral fertilizers to Bangladesh.

The certain agreements have been made on exploring the possibilities of enhancement of interbank collaboration and establishing the direct correspondent links between the State banks of Russia and Bangladesh. The participants of the meeting expressed their mutual interest in deepening cooperation in the field of information and telecommunication technologies by the means of the competent authorities and organizations.

Members of the delegations commended the effort of Russian companies in Bangladesh and successful realization of the joint projects. An illustrative example is launch of plans for the commissioning of the first power unit of “Rooppur” nuclear power plant to 2023, and the second – to 2024.

During the meeting, the support was expressed for the implementation of a comprehensive plan, involving the seismic prospecting onshore and offshore, gas drilling, as well as “Gazprom’s” intentions to expand mutually beneficial strategic partnership in the oil and gas industry with “Petrobangla” company.

The Sides noted with satisfaction the intensity of political dialogue at the international platforms and emphasized their identical and close approaches to the most global and regional issues of the current agenda.

 

The image source – the Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo)