Dhaka looks next 50yrs collaboration with S Korea

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam today said Dhaka looks forward to the next 50 years of successful collaboration with South Korea in line with existing “comprehensive partnership”.

“I wish that both Bangladesh and Korea will collectively bring the best out of the Comprehensive Partnership particularly in terms of the Diplomatic, Economic and People-to-People Relations,” he said.

He was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled “Korea-Bangladesh Economic Cooperation: Sharing Development Experience and Exploring Opportunities” at a city hotel.

“As we are crossing the milestone of fifty years of friendship this year, we look forward to the next 50 years of successful collaboration between our two friendly countries for the mutual benefit of our two peoples,” said the state minister. 

Alam expressed gratitude for the Korean government’s Employment Permit System (EPS) which has been providing employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers in Korea.

“We thank the ROK government for increasing the ceiling of the EPS quota for Bangladesh to 10,000 for this year and employing Bangladeshi workers in the shipbuilding sector,” he said.

The state minister hoped that the Korean government would favorably consider increasing the intake of Bangladeshi workers and opening new opportunities for our workers to work in Korean agriculture, fisheries, shipbuilding and other service sectors.

He said Korea may support Bangladesh for improvement of technical skills and productivity of Bangladeshi workers as well as Korean language training for Bangladeshi EPS workers by the native Korean language instructors up to the intermediate level prior to their departure for Korea.

Alam thanked Seoul for the increase of EDCF loans by Korea for Bangladesh to $3 billion from $700 million for a period of five years (2023-2027).

“I also express my gratitude to the Korean government for considering the new window for concessional loans- Economic Development Promotion Facility (EDPF) for Bangladesh to fund large-scale infrastructure projects,” he said.

Noted that Korea became a significant trade partner of Bangladesh, he expressed satisfaction over the growth of the bilateral trade volume in recent years registering a record high of USD 3 billion in 2022.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak spoke as special guest at the seminar.

South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Park Young-sik, South Korean experts Prof Hyeok Jeong, Dr Dongsoo Kim and Dr Jaehan Cho also spoke at separate sessions.

Korean envoy said that he is confident that Bangladesh will be able to overcome the issues following its LDC graduation and achieve the goals of Smart Bangladesh as a developed country by 2041.

“Bangladesh has the potential to achieve sustainable economic development. We have already witnessed a tripling of Bangladesh’s per capita income over the last decade,” he said.

He said South Korea and Bangladesh is currently discussing the negations of bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

“The EPA, if reached, will greatly increase bilateral trade in the mutually beneficial ways,” he added.