Photo: Collected
Brazil, South America's most influential country, wants to strengthen its ties with Bangladesh on key fronts with a possible visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week of July.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has invited the Prime Minister to pay the bilateral visit to Brazil on July 28.
“This is a bilateral visit. It's just her. The idea is that she can launch with President Lula the global programme against hunger and then she will go to Brasilia for all the ceremonies of a full opera visit. So that's the idea,” said Brazilian Ambassador Paulo Fernando Dias Feres while talking to diplomatic correspondents at “DCAB Talk” at Jatiya Press Club on Thursday (25 April).
This will be the first bilateral visit of the prime minister to any Latin American country which is seen as a rising economic power and one of the world's biggest democracies.
He said Brazil is planning to open a visa centre in Bangladesh to facilitate more people-to-people contact as the demand grows by the day.
“It's getting bigger and bigger. So it's something that worries us because we think that we should have a very expedited service here in Dhaka,” he said, adding that every month they are getting 250 to 300 visa requests.
“The decision has already been made and we are going to float a tender, but they are not going to do it (tender) here in Bangladesh. They're going to do it in a third country. Because the companies who provide this kind of service are international companies,” he said.
Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) hosted the event with DCAB President Nurul Islam Hasib in chair. DCAB General Secretary Ashiqur Rahman Apu also spoke.
Following the invitation letter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka has forwarded to Brazil a proposal of an agreement to avoid double taxation which can be signed during the visit.
The Bangladesh side proposed an agreement to avoid double taxation on the salaries of people occasionally involved in technical cooperation.
Brazil Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira’s first-ever visit to Dhaka,on April 7-8 generated a lot of interest between the countries.
“We were able to sign only one document during the minister's visit, which was the framework agreement on technical cooperation. It's a very important document because in our structure, this kind of agreement allows you to do everything. Using the agreement, we will be able to go into other areas or every area. We can go into agriculture, chemical industry, we can go whatever,” the ambassador said.
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