Indian Ocean a beacon of hope: Momen
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today called the Indian Ocean a "beacon of hope" and emphasised the need for all activities in the region to be conducted in a safe and secure manner.
The foreign minister attended the 23rd Council of Ministers' Meeting (COM) of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in Colombo on Wednesday.
The meeting started this morning with the handing over of chairship of IORA to Sri Lanka by Bangladesh, reads a foreign ministry press release.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
In his opening statement, Foreign Minister Momen congratulated Sri Lanka as the incoming chair and India as the Vice-Chair of the Association for the period 2023- 2025.
Reiterating Bangladesh's commitments to the Vision of IORA, Momen stressed on IORA to play an unifying role to strengthen economic relations among IORA member states through an intra-IORA trade and investment agreement and to develop a collective framework for environmental conservation and disaster risk reduction.
He expressed hope that IORA would act as a key driving force for peace, development and stability in the region.
After the Council meeting, Foreign Minister called on the President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe at the latter's office in the afternoon.
They discussed issues of bilateral interest and underscored the need for expeditious implementation of existing sectoral cooperation with special focus on ongoing preferential trade agreement (PTA) negotiation, cooperation in business and investment, pharmaceuticals, tourism, shipping and air connectivity.
