Bangladesh, UAE to jointly produce Covid vaccine 

Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates have joined hands to manufacture Covid-19 vaccine.

The process of co-production in Bangladesh will start soon, according to Economic Relations Division (ERD) officials. 

The UAE gave its consent to such a proposal from Bangladesh at the fifth session of the Joint Commission held between representatives of both the countries in Dhaka on Monday. The Gulf nation had first placed an offer to supply vaccine doses produced in the country to Bangladesh.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said, "Both of our governments are keen to make the best of our potential in trade and investment."

The finance minister called upon the Middle Eastern country to invest in power, energy and mineral resources, information and communication technology, education, science and technology, marine environment, agriculture, and health services and health education.

ERD officials said DP World, a Dubai-based company, is investing in setting up Matarbari deep sea port under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) system. The company is also investing in another PPP project to establish an inland container depot in Gazipur's Dhirashram area. 

They proposed investing more in such large PPP projects, the officials added.

Moreover, Bangladesh sought the UAE's support for duty- and quota-free access to its market, and the UAE representative assured Bangladesh of cooperation in this regard.

Bangladesh's exports to the UAE increased by 45.7% to $209.95 million year-on-year in the first four months of the current fiscal year, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). The country's exports to UAE amounted to $144.11 million at the same period in FY21.

The finance minister in the meeting also called upon the UAE to create more employment opportunities for Bangladeshi workers and professionals in the country.

The finance minister said more than half a million Bangladeshi expatriates are providing services in the UAE with reputation and dignity. There are still a lot of opportunities in the country's various sectors, especially for professional, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled manpower.

ERD officials at the meeting proposed simplifying the recruitment process of Bangladeshi workers in the UAE labour market. 

The UAE envoy suggested that the two countries start talks at the ministry level to this end.

Bangladesh's third highest remittances come from the UAE. But workers cannot go there on a work visa. Instead, they first have to go to the country for three months on visit visas. Then, they convert those into work visas and stay there for a certain period as per job contracts.

To get out of this situation, Bangladesh proposed introducing the work visa process directly.