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Bangladesh Lead story

Bangladesh, Maldives sign three instruments soaring bilateral relations to new height

Three instruments were signed and
another one was renewed today between Bangladesh and Maldives on health, dual
taxation, youth and sports, elevating the bilateral relations to new height.

The signing ceremony was held at the President’s Office here this morning
in presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Maldivian
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih after the bilateral talks between the two
leaders.

Bangladesh’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque and Maldivian
Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem inked the MoU on Recruitment of Qualified
Health Professionals while Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and
Maldivian Minister of Youth, Sports, and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof
signed MoU between Bangladesh Youth and Sports Ministry and Maldives Youth, Sports, and Community Empowerment Ministry on Cooperation in the Areas of
Youth and Sports Development on behalf of their respective sides.

Besides, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue of Bangladesh Abu Hena
Md. Rahmatul Muneem and Commissioner-General of Taxation of the Maldives
Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) Fathuhulla Jameel also signed the agreement
between the Maldives and Bangladesh for the Elimination of Double Taxation
with Respect to the Taxes on Income and the Prevention of Tax Evasion and
Avoidance.

Apart from this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the areas of
Healthcare and Medical Sciences was renewed between Bangladesh and Maldives’
health ministries.

Bangladesh Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque and Maldivian
Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem inked the renewal of the MoU.

Bangladesh has also gifted 13 military vehicles to the Maldives as a token
of friendship between the two South Asian nations during the ceremony.

On behalf of Bangladesh, its Chief of Army Staff General S M Shafiuddin
Ahmed made the symbolic handover of the keys of the military vehicles to
Maldives Chief of Defence Force Major General Abdullah Shamaal.

Earlier, on arrival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the President’s
Office, she was formally received by Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed
Solih as a red carpet was rolled out with according a guard of honor and
presenting gun salute.

The prime minister also visited the line of presentation of both the
countries.

Sheikh Hasina has signed the visitors’ book kept at the President’s Office
and took part in a photo session there.

The premier arrived at Male, the capital of Maldives on her six days maiden
bilateral visits by a VVIP special flight of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines
yesterday afternoon (December 22 afternoon).

After the signing ceremony, Bangladesh prime minister and Maldivian
president issued separate statements in a joint briefing.

In the briefing, the two leaders said they had fruitful bilateral talks on
promoting trade, investment, and connectivity between the two countries.

In her statement in the joint briefing, Sheikh Hasina said, “I had a
detailed discussion with President Solih on promoting bilateral trade,
investment and connectivity.”

The premier said they agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation,
especially in health, education, human resources development, youth and
sports, fisheries, and agriculture between the two countries.

She said the two leaders also consented to work together to face the
challenge of climate change and for early repatriation of forcibly displaced
Rohingyas to Myanmar during the dialogue.

Sheikh Hasina added during the bilateral talks with President Solih she had
also re-emphasized the necessity of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA)
between the two countries and a bilateral investment protection arrangement
for mutual facilitation of investment.

She went on saying, “Despite opportunities, we could not yet fully tap the
potentials of bilateral trade and investment”.

About the outcome of the talks, she said, “I am happy to share that we just
held a very fruitful discussion on the entire spectrum of our bilateral
relations. We reviewed the progress made so far on our earlier decisions and
found the outcome satisfactory.”

She said that they also discussed cooperation in multilateral fora
including countering terrorism.

In his press statement in the joint briefing, Maldivian President Ibrahim
Mohamed Solih said he had fruitful bilateral talks with Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, adding, “I look forward to enhancing our interactions on trade and
investment.”

Mentioning that significant progress has been made in the economic, social
and political areas, he said, “Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and I
had official talks this time and reviewed the progress made in the bilateral
meetings last March.”

The Maldivian president said that in addition to the bilateral issues, the
Bangladesh premier and he discussed regional and international issues of
mutual cooperation.

“To the SAARC and other platforms such as Indian Ocean Rim Association, the
Prime Minister and I assured that terrorism, extremism and radicalisation
must be addressed to achieve regional security, prosperity, stability and
peace,” he said.

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