KUCHING: Bangladesh is exploring potential opportunities for cooperation in Malaysia, including Sarawak, in the human resource sector, says the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Malaysia, Md Shameem Ahsan.
He said that the visit of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to Bangladesh in October last year had elevated bilateral relations to a new level, with both countries agreeing to extend their collaboration beyond the human resource sector.
He explained that the Bangladesh High Commission had signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with the Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) two years ago, marking the first step in identifying new areas of collaboration.
“I believe both countries can greatly benefit from working together in new sectors, as we already have strong trade and economic relations, with trade value between the two nations reaching approximately USD4 billion.
“Malaysia is now the ninth-largest global investor, indicating that we can go even further and that there are still many untapped opportunities,” he said.
He said this when met by reporters after a meeting with SBF president Datuk Seri Abang Abdul Karim Tun Openg at the SBF office on Thursday (Feb 6).
Meanwhile, Abdul Karim said that the meeting had identified food production as the most promising area for potential collaboration between Sarawak and Bangladesh.
“We explored sectors where collaboration could take place, and we have identified the food sector, in which Bangladesh has strong expertise.
“We can explore this further, and perhaps they can share their technology with us, especially in rice production, as the Sarawak Government is also very interested in developing this sector, particularly in food production.
“Additionally, we can look into downstream development in this sector,” he said.
As such, he did not rule out the possibility of future expert exchanges in this field, particularly in food production and technology used by Bangladesh.
