Dhaka, 10 May 2022:

The newly appointed Ambassador of the Philippines to Bangladesh Alan L. Deniega called on the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam, MP. today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The State Minister welcomed the new Envoy of the Philippines and, while assuring him of all possible support and cooperation for carrying out his mission in Bangladesh, hoped that, Bangladesh-Philippines bilateral relations would attain newer heights during his tenure in Dhaka.

The State Minister recalled with gratitude the recognition by the Philippines to the independent Bangladesh in February 1972. He hoped that the warm bilateral relations will gain further momentum on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of diplomatic ties.

State Minister Shahriar Alam mentioned that Bangladesh, being strategically located at the cusp of the South and South East Asian regions is making all efforts for further enhancing and deepening of her relationship with the ASEAN member states. He sought the support of the Philippines for Bangladesh’s bid for ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner status. The Philippines Ambassador assured the State Minister of their full support and suggested certain steps and process for expediting the inclusion of Bangladesh in this regard.

State Minister Shariar Alam highlighted the plights of the Rohingya people sheltered temporarily in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds and sought Philippines’ and ASEAN’ pro-active support for their early repatriation to Myanmar. He also mentioned the pressure the additional 1.1 million people are creating on the local law and order and security situation of Bangladesh.      

During his discussion, Shahriar Alam pointed to the pandemic-induced food insecurity, inflation and global supply chain disruptions as well as their impacts on some of the countries in the region and beyond, and stressed the importance of greater unity, collaborative efforts and synergies, particularly among the countries in the neighborhood and in the region, for overcoming these challenges and for protecting the lives and livelihood of the common people.      

State Minister Alam observed that Philippines have had remarkable expertise in the fields of human resource training, nursing and health-related service sectors, tourism and hospitality industries, agro-processing etc., which Bangladesh could share and utilize for adding further momentum to the current pace of economic development of the country. He also encouraged the Philippines’ investors to invest in Bangladesh, which has a burgeoning middle-class with an increasing purchasing capacity.

The new Ambassador of the Philippines profusely admired the decisive and visionary leadership of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and described Bangladesh as a role model for social development. He expressed his keenness on mutual sharing of the experiences and expertise of the two countries for the benefit of the people of the two friendly countries. He highly lauded the Disaster Management efficiency and capacity achieved by Bangladesh, which could be shared with many counties in the world, he said. He also congratulated the government and people of Bangladesh on their successful handling of the Covid pandemic and expressed satisfaction at the resumption of normal socio-economic life in both Bangladesh and the Philippines.

During their talks, both the State Minister and the Ambassador exchanged felicitations on the historic occasion of the golden jubilee of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and the Philippines and agreed to have more high level visits to further consolidate the bilateral relations in the coming days.