25 August 2020:

Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to UN Agencies and other International Organizations in Vienna Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith presented credentials to the Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Mr. LI Yong on 25 August 2020 at the UNIDO Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

While accepting the Credentials, the Director General (DG) of UNIDO welcomed Ambassador Muhith in Vienna and wished him success in discharging his responsibilities. The Director General commended the active role of previous Bangladesh Ambassador in strengthening the cooperation between Bangladesh and UNIDO and reiterated UNIDO’s strong commitment to support Bangladesh to reach the next level of industrial development. He fondly remembered his visit to Bangladesh and his fruitful meetings with Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Foreign Minister and Hon’ble Finance Minister in 2017. The Director General appreciated the exemplary economic development of Bangladesh in recent years and offered all sorts of cooperation from UNIDO. The DG also opined that Bangladesh can be included in the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) of UNIDO and the existing Country Programme can be connected to the PCP.

Ambassador Muhith thanked the Director General for accepting the Credentials and appreciated his leadership to take UNIDO to a new height. The Ambassador also thanked the DG for the existing excellent relationship between Bangladesh and UNIDO and request for extending the purview of the cooperation in the field of blue economy, climate change, waste management, food security, SDGs implementation as well as the issues on COVID-19 (challenges & opportunities). The Ambassador accepted the proposal from the DG for the cooperation in the field of 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) and informed the DG that Bangladesh has already started the implementation of the 4IR innovations under it’s ‘Digital Bangladesh’ initiative. He requested the DG to give emphasis on the projects already identified under the Country Program which has greater catalytic impact on the economy. He also suggested the DG to take waste management and waste to energy projects in Bangladesh involving the World Bank for financing.

The Ambassador thanked the DG UNIDO for his continuous support to Bangladesh and expressed his desire to work closely with UNIDO in the coming days.