Bangladesh and France have reiterated interest in expanding bilateral trade and exploring potentials for investment in quality and resilient infrastructure development in Bangladesh, including in the railway sector.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron expressed the hope that the Bangladesh-France Investment Summit — to be held on October 23 and 25, 2023 — in Paris and Toulouse would inject a new impetus to the bilateral trade and investment relations.

"Thank you, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the people of Bangladesh for such a warm welcome. Our friendship is long-standing and unbreakable," President Macron said.

France expressed its confidence in the economic prospects offered by Bangladesh for shared growth and inclusive development.

Both sides recalled the depth of their economic partnership, spanning every sector from industry to services, and expressed willingness to further deepen and widen it through business-to-business collaboration, according to a joint statement issued on Monday.

France lauded the adoption of the National Action Plan on the labour sector of Bangladesh (2021-2026) and stressed the importance of its implementation and the diversification of Bangladesh's economy in order to facilitate a smooth and sustainable transition under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) of the European Union.

Building on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to France in November 2021, at her invitation, President Emmanuel Macron paid a bilateral visit to Bangladesh on September 10-11, 2023.

The President of France and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh met on Monday in Dhaka to give a strong impetus to the bilateral relations, and stated their common conviction to develop a trusted and meaningful partnership fostering strategic autonomy — in support of global peace and security, resilience and prosperity, and people-centric connectivity.

Bangladesh and France committed to launch regular high-level dialogues to deepen the strategic dimension of their partnership.

Source: UNB