Shahriar Alam attends 200-year celebration of Mexican independence

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam is now visiting Mexico with a 7-member Bangladesh delegation and participated in the celebration of the 200th year anniversary of Mexican independence this evening at the invitation from the Mexican President. 

The celebration programme, also attended by a number of high dignitaries from different countries all over the world, was presided over by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. 

Mexican President, during his speech in the celebration programme, expressed his sincere gratitude to Bangladesh for its active participation in the celebration of 200 years of Mexican independence as a 39-member military contingent from Bangladesh performed at the celebratory parade in Mexico City on 16 September, and a 14-member cultural troupe is also visiting the country to showcase Bangladesh's rich cultural heritage there.

At the sideline of the celebration programme, the state minister for foreign affairs had meetings with ministers from India, Serbia, The Netherland, France and Greece.

On 28 September morning, Shahriar Alam held a bilateral meeting with Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Carmen Moreno Toscano at the Mexican Foreign Office.

The minister conveyed that a small military contingent from Mexico would participate in the parade of the closing ceremony of the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Bangladesh's Independence and the 100th Birth Anniversary of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 

She praised Bangladesh for its extraordinary accomplishments in women empowerment, and in response, Shahriar Alam briefed her on the extraordinary successes Bangladesh has achieved in recent years not only in women empowerment but also in attaining MDGs and SDGs.  

Bangladesh State Minister also emphasized the importance of regular holding of foreign office consultations (FOC) between two governments as per the MoU signed between two governments six years ago, underscoring that Bangladesh remains flexible with the modalities of holding such consultation in near future. 

He also stressed the early conclusion of the MoU between two countries for visa exemption of diplomatic and official passports, and also proposed for engagement between the diplomatic training academies of both countries.

In addition, the state minister thanked Mexico for its strong support to Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue and expressed satisfaction at support and cooperation extended by Mexico at the multilateral arena. 

The Mexican deputy minister proposed that FoC can be initiated virtually at the level of director-general and also expressed her government's willingness to conclude the almost finalised MoU of mutual administrative assistance in customs matters. 

She also underlined the enhancement of cultural cooperation by concluding MoU. The minister agreed to explore the possibilities of Spanish language training and expressed interest to conclude MoU with the two diplomatic training institutes including the exchange of diplomats. 

Two ministers also had discussed their respective country's Covid-19 situation and management.