Bangladesh seeks greater support from Sweden for digital transformation, market access

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has sought Swedish support in digital transformation, trade facilitation, climate change adaptation, and DFQF market access for Bangladesh to the European Union (EU) until 2032.

Impressed by the massive socio-economic and infrastructural developments, State Secretary for International Development Cooperation of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Diana Janse appreciated Bangladesh's extra-ordinary developmental journey and expressed Sweden's willingness to take bilateral relations between the two friendly countries to new heights.

Ambassador of Sweden to Bangladesh Alexandra Berg Von Linde and Head of South Asia Group at the Asia and Latin America Department of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Niclas Trouvé, also joined the meeting.

She highlighted that more than 50 Swedish companies are successfully doing business in Bangladesh and indicated orientation of Swedish development cooperation to trade promotion.

She also underscored the importance of green transition and offered development financing in this regard.

The state secretary appreciated the generosity of the government of Bangladesh for hosting the forcibly displaced Rohingyas and assured continued Swedish humanitarian support.

Diana Janse expected that the upcoming parliamentary election in Bangladesh will be free and fair.

The state minister assured that the government will extend all possible cooperation to the Election Commission to conduct free, fair and peaceful elections.

He welcomed independent international observers to observe the upcoming parliamentary election in Bangladesh.

The two sides also shared their views on war in Ukraine and its resulting impacts on global economy and food security, rules-based world order, and climate change. 

Thanking the Swedish state secretary for her maiden visit to Bangladesh, the state minister fondly recalled his recent fruitful meeting with Håkan Jevrell, state secretary for Foreign Trade and Export and Investment Promotion of Sweden and exchange of views on different issues of mutual interest with the cross-party Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm in June this year.

He acknowledged with gratitude that Sweden was one of the first few European countries to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign state on 4 February in 1972.

He appreciated Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency's (SIDA) support to Bangladesh to rebuild a war-ravaged country after the Independence and its continued support to Bangladesh to the improvement of living conditions of the poor, particularly women and children, and promoting gender equality.

The state minister highlighted Bangladesh's contributions to world peace under the UN, remarkable socio-economic development, particularly in poverty reduction, attainment of food autarky, successes in health and education and massive infrastructural developments under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.