Italian PM Meloni likely to visit Bangladesh in August

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is likely to pay an official visit Bangladesh in the last week of August as the two countries eye greater cooperation in core areas to further strengthen the relations.

Officials on both sides are now working to finalise things to make visit a successful one, a diplomatic source told UNB.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, who visited Bangladesh earlier this month, informed Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus that Italy is willing to hire more people from Bangladesh and will undertake measures to ensure safe migration from the country.

Matteo conveyed to the Chief Adviser that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to visit Bangladesh sometime before September, as Rome is keen to 'renew' and 're-launch' its bilateral cooperation with Dhaka, officials said.

The Chief Adviser said Bangladesh is eager to work with Italy to stop illegal migration and human trafficking.

“Bangladeshis living in Italy are very grateful to the host country and appreciative of the way they are treated in Italy,” Prof Yunus said.

In the margins of the high-level week of the 79th United Nations General Assembly in September last year, the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, met met Chief Adviser Prof Yunus.

During the meeting, Meloni expressed Italy’s support for the reform process in Bangladesh and the main goal of improving the population’s social and economic conditions.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss migration, with the intention being stated to strengthen cooperation on this issue, in particular by relaunching negotiations to complete a bilateral agreement to combat irregular migration flows, establish closer cooperation on returns and, at the same time, support legal paths.