PM gives a boost to BD - Maldives ties

With Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina commencing her Maldives visit from Wednesday, the two countries are witnessing yet another significant boost in bilateral ties. Bangladesh and the Maldives have signed three instruments and renewed another one on Thursday on health, dual taxation, youth and sports to elevate the bilateral relations to new heights.

The signing ceremony of MoUs was held at the President's Office of the Maldives in presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister and the Maldivian President following a series of bilateral talks between the two leaders. Moreover, the two countries have agreed to fight terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation to ensure regional security, prosperity, stability and peace through using the SAARC and other platforms, such as the Indian Ocean Rim Association.

We consider the prime minister's visit as a land mark step in cementing the bond between the two regional countries. Bangladesh and Maldives enjoys a traditional close relationship. As close neighbours in the region, we share much in common through our values, faith and traditions. Despite much in common, a number of key areas remained untapped for too long.
However, most of the unexplored areas have been positively identified and jointly addressed in the days ahead.

In particular, the PM's latest visit also included discussions on regularisation of undocumented Bangladeshi nationals who make substantial contributions to both economies. It is important since some 80,000 Bangladeshis are now working in the Maldives, a nation of only around 400,000 people, with one-third having no valid documents or registration. This is a major portion among all the foreign workers in the Maldives. Besides it is a matter of great satisfaction that Bangladesh accepted the Maldives proposal for recruiting health professionals from Bangladesh.  

We don't want to be exclusively branded as a nation of blue-collar employee exporter.

The Prime Minister specifically mentioned that 2021 is a landmark year for Bangladesh-Maldives bilateral relations. It is indeed correct. The Maldives president's visit to Dhaka to participate in the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence in March this year is a clear testament. A number of MoUs were also inked during that visit. Moreover, frequent high level visits from secretary and ministerial levels to respective heads of governments also proves the growing eagerness that both countries are committed to take the bilateral ties to the next stage.

Last of all, As Bangladesh takes the next consistent leap in its development, regional cooperation will be absolutely pivotal for it to reach its goals. On that note, the government is performing well in terms of boosting bilateral ties with its neighbours.

We believe our ties with other regional countries would also gather equal momentum.