Bangladesh, Thailand decide to hold talks on FTA-Xinhua

Bangladesh, Thailand decide to hold talks on FTA

Source: Xinhua| 2023-03-15 20:53:00|Editor: huaxia

DHAKA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh and Thailand have agreed to explore the prospects of an FTA (free trade agreement) to further augment bilateral trade between the two countries.

The two sides reached the consensus during the third foreign office consultations which took place Tuesday in Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka.

According to a Foreign Ministry statement received Wednesday, Dhaka and Bangkok also exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest during the meeting.

Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen led the Bangladeshi delegation, while Sarun Charoensuwan, permanent secretary of Thailand's Foreign Ministry led the Thai side.

Both sides appreciated the existing excellent bilateral relations and reaffirmed their commitment to raising the profile of bilateral relations to newer heights in the coming days.

The two sides lauded the growing pace of engagement and enthusiasm in areas of political, economic, social and cultural ties and agreed to further explore new areas of cooperation.

The meeting took stock of cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, health services, tourism, defense cooperation, consular cooperation, agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, connectivity, ICT, energy, cultural exchange and people-to-people contacts.

The Bangladeshi foreign secretary reiterated Bangladesh's keenness on joining the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and as a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN.

Both sides stressed the importance of continuing the upward momentum in the relationship through exchanges of regular visits and consultations, and agreed to hold the next Bangladesh-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting at the foreign ministers' level in Bangkok at a mutually convenient date.

Bangladesh and Thailand agreed to hold the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting in Dhaka in 2023 at a mutually convenient time to review the whole range of bilateral trade and investment portfolio, and increase volume and diversity of trade to its true potentials.

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