Bangladesh seeks ASEAN support to be Sectoral Dialogue Partner

Bangladesh has sought support from the ASEAN countries to Bangladesh's application for becoming a Sectoral Dialogue Partner. 

Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen today sought the support in a virtual discussion with the heads of missions from different ASEAN countries in Dhaka through Boithok, a Bangladeshi video conferencing app developed by the ICT ministry. 

Welcoming the ASEAN ambassadors to the meeting, Momen said Bangladesh highly values its relations with the South East Asian countries, said a press release. 

The foreign secretary reiterated that Bangladesh is keen to expand its ties with the ASEAN countries both in depth and dimension encompassing areas such as trade, investment, physical connectivity, people to people contacts, defence cooperation, academia and track-2 diplomacy.

ASEAN ambassadors informed that Bangladesh's application to become ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue partner is under positive consideration at their capitals and assured of full support to Bangladesh's bid. 

Masud Bin Momen briefed on Bangladesh's Covid-19 management and the current scenario while the ASEAN ambassadors shared their respective country experiences about the pandemic. 

Secretary (East) ambassador Mashfee Binte Shams, secretary (West) ambassador Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury and directors general of Myanmar and South East Asia Wings also attended the Boithok meeting.