Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on Friday discussed bolstering maritime relations and trade between Dhaka and Colombo in a high-level meeting.
The meeting was held at the conference room of the Ministry of Shipping where State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury led the Bangladesh team and Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation of Sri Lanka Nirmal Siripala De Silva led the Srilankan team.
After the meeting, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury talked to the media.
He said: “We have discussed various issues to strengthen our maritime connection. Due to the global crisis including the Covid-19 pandemic, many talks between the two countries have stalled. A meeting at the secretary level between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was supposed to take place in February. That meeting did not take place due to some problems in Sri Lanka.”
“When Sri Lanka was in crisis, Bangladesh supported them as a neighbouring country. Hopefully, we can solve and finalize some issues with Sri Lanka in the next secretary-level meeting,” added the state minister.
When asked about the bilateral issues Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said: “The Coastal Shipping or Coastal Navigation Agreement has been discussed. Sri Lankan businessmen want to increase investment in Bangladesh. They are interested in investing in the Payra port. A delegation of them will visit Payra port soon.”
The Sri Lankan minister praised the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting and said: “Sheikh Hasina is not only leading Bangladesh, she is also leading South Asia, we will march together under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina.”
“We have discussed increasing the vessel movement between Chittagong and Colombo. We are increasing the capacity of the Colombo port so that Bangladeshi vessels can operate easily there,” the Sri Lankan minister added.
He also said: “Bangladesh and Sri Lanka both are small countries of this region but hold very strong positions due to their geographical presence.”
Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping Mostafa Kamal, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka
Tharaka Balasuriya, Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail, and Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Bangladesh Shudharshan Seneviratne among others were present in the meeting.
