Bangladesh-Netherlands to work more closely to implement Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100

The consensus came during the bilateral talks between visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte at "Catshuis", the official residence of the Dutch premier here on Wednesday night.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Rutte had in-depth discussions on bilateral and global issues of mutual interest, including trade and investment, private sector development, agriculture, port development, and rule of law, followed by a dinner focusing on water management hosted by Prime Minister Rutte, a joint statement issued after the talks said.

"The two prime ministers agreed to work together to make densely populated delta areas across the world safer and economically more viable in the framework of the Delta Coalition," the statement said.

The two leaders acknowledged that both Bangladesh and the Netherlands are countries of deltaic nature and there exists immense scope for cooperation between the two countries in the areas of delta management, water resources management and other related areas.

In that context, the two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction at the signing of the MoU "Towards Resilient and Sustainable Delta Management for a prosperous Bangladesh" and a "Letter of Intent on Cooperation in the field of Land Reclamation and Accretion in Bangladesh" between the two countries in June 2015.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister lauded the expertise of the Netherlands in delta management and thanked the Dutch Prime Minister for their support in the development of Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100.

Sheikh Hasina underscored the importance of an effective partnership arrangement with the government of the Netherlands under Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 for long term capacity building through education and training.

The Dutch Prime Minister assured of extending all cooperation to Bangladesh for implementation of Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 to make the delta safe and productive for the people.

The two Prime Ministers noted with satisfaction that Bangladesh and the Netherlands have developed a strong and mutually beneficial partnership at bilateral and multilateral levels. Recognizing the long-standing relations between the two countries, the two Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the relationship.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the ministerial level visits in recent time and agreed to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges and consultations. They underlined the role of such exchanges in further strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

The two Prime Ministers noted with satisfaction the holding of first-ever bilateral consultations (FOC) between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh and the Netherlands which was held on 10 September 2015 in The Hague. They agreed to make the FOC a platform for regular dialogue between the two countries, including on political and social issues.

The two Prime Ministers agreed that economic cooperation and trade constitute a key element for strengthening bilateral relations. They noted with satisfaction that Netherlands is a leading export destination for Bangladeshi goods and one of the top FDI sources for Bangladesh.

The two sides expressed the wish to increase bilateral trade and investment.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister apprised her Dutch counterpart of various measures taken and incentives offered to promote foreign direct investment in Bangladesh and invited Dutch investors to invest in the emerging sectors such as pharmaceuticals, leather, agro-processing, light engineering, jute, shipbuilding, power and energy particularly renewable energy, infrastructure in water and marine sector, IT and tourism.

The Dutch Prime Minister expressed interest in Bangladesh deep sea ports projects. The Bangladesh Prime Minister noted the Dutch interest in the deep sea ports projects and assured the Dutch side of her government's due consideration of the port projects proposition.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister apprised the Dutch Prime Minister of her government's measures to transform the readymade garments (RMG) sector into a model of sustainable industrialization.

In that context, Bangladesh Prime Minister sought the Netherlands' support to address the issues related to 'access to finance' and 'fair pricing' in the RMG sector of Bangladesh.

The Netherlands appreciated Bangladesh government's strong commitment towards a sustainable RMG sector, encouraged the government of Bangladesh to play a leading role in the sector and assured Bangladesh of their cooperation in this regard.

The two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction at the existing level of cooperation between the two countries in various international fora and agreed to forge closer cooperation in the United Nations and other international fora on issues of mutual interest.

Both sides recognized the important role of the United Nations in peacekeeping operations and its contribution to international peace and security.

The Dutch Prime Minister praised Bangladesh as a top troops and police contributing country to the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO) and thanked Bangladesh for the support for the non-permanent seat for the Netherlands in the UN Security Council for 2017-18.

The two Prime Ministers welcomed the adoption of "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" at the UNGA in September 2015which encompasses the idea of human security and global partnership. They affirmed their continued efforts to the implementation of the agenda.

The Dutch Prime Minister lauded Bangladesh's success in attaining the MDGs and expressed hope that Bangladesh would be a leader in the developing world in implementing the SDGs as well.

He also congratulated Bangladesh for being elected as the Chair of Global Fund for Migration and Development for 2016. The two Prime Ministers agreed that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing mankind.

In the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Paris this year (COP21), both sate parties resolved to actively contribute to achieving a legally-binding agreement, on a fair and effective new international framework applicable to all parties, addressing in a balanced manner for adaptation and mitigation taking into account the challenges faced by vulnerable developing countries like Bangladesh?.

The two Prime Ministers welcomed the signing of the following bilateral instruments:

01. Memorandum of Understanding on Foreign Office Consultations Between The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands And The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of Bangladesh;

02. Letter of Intent (LOI) between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of Bangladesh on Training Cooperation for Junior Diplomats from Bangladesh.

03. Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between Saxion University of Applied Sciences, School of Creative Technology and BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology; and

04. Bilateral Cooperation Agreement / Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Saxion University of Applied Sciences and BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina extended an invitation to Dutch Premier Mark Rutte to pay a visit to Bangladesh at a mutually convenient time. Prime Minister Mark Rutte expressed his appreciation for the invitation.

The Bangladesh delegation included in the talks was Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Water Resources Md Nazrul Islam, PM's Principal Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad, Senior Secretary of the Commerce Ministry Hedayet Ullah Al Mamun, Shipping Secretary Shafiq Alam Mehedi, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque and Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh Muhammad Belal.