The first Franco-German embassy in Dhaka means that the two most powerful countries of Europe want to cooperate with Bangladesh, the French foreign minister has said.
Published : 21 Sep 2015, 08:32 PM
“It’s a new symbol,” Laurent Fabius said on Monday at a press briefing at the end of a whirlwind visit along with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The two foreign ministers arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning on a “historic” first visit to see the impacts of climate change in the worst-affected Bangladesh in the run-up to the crucial climate conference in Paris in December.
The embassy will serve as a joint workplace from next summer.
After the ceremony which was attended by their Bangladesh counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, the French minister met the press at the new chancery premises at Baridhara.
Fabius said when they decided to build this first-ever joint embassy in Dhaka they had several issues including economic opportunities in their mind.
He said it was “a new symbol” of France and Germany relations, which forged partnership in 1963 by Elysée Treaty ending years of enmity.
He said Bangladesh was also a relatively new country with high opportunities, and despite having “lot of problems”, people were “very positive”.
“It’s good that Europe could be at your side,” he said, hinting that France and Germany’s consensus on an issue matters in the European Union.
“France and Germany two big nations (and this new embassy is) showing that we want to cooperate with you,” he said.
Their trip gave them a first-hand impression of the impact of global warming and the possible adaptation strategies in the areas of disaster risk reduction and long-term agricultural adaptation.
During their daylong visit, they had to scrap their plans to go to the southern Patuakhali district by helicopter, due to inclement weather, to inaugurate one of the anti-cyclone shelters built with German support.
Instead, they spent two hours on the river Bangshi at the Dhaka suburb of Savar on Bangladesh’s traditional wooded boat and saw the impacts of climate change on the both sides of the river.
Later, they attended a working lunch with their Bangladesh counterpart and met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
At the topping-off ceremony, the two ministers along with Mahmood Ali visited the six-storey under-construction building where diplomats of both EU nations would sit and work.
The building designers briefed the ministers about the architecture which has an “interwoven elements of differently coloured facade elements”.
The external structure of the building will hint at a DNA and symbolise the close ties between France and Germany.
He said this made Dhaka “a very special place” for them.
Steinmeier said their visit was part of the upcoming climate summit where they would work closely with France.
“We can count on the support and commitment of Bangladeshi people,” he said.
He added that at Patuakhali where Germans built cyclone shelters, climate change for the people was “an existential and concrete threat”.
Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali visited Paris in June and invited his French counterpart to come to Bangladesh.
He agreed instantly and wished to come with his German “friend” in September.
Ali, speaking at the topping-off ceremony said this was the first-ever visit of any French foreign minister in Bangladesh, though he said a French president visited Bangladesh before.
He highlighted the commonalities of the relations and recalled their support to Bangladesh during the 1971 War of Independence.
He said this joint embassy was not “only unique”, but also gave an example of how to live in “peace, cooperation and harmony”.
“This is what Bangladesh is also aspiring for.”
Bangladesh maintains close relations with both the countries. Germany is the biggest single-country trading destination for Bangladesh in the EU where all products enjoy duty-free market access.
The two-way trade with Germany is about $5 billion, mostly Bangladesh’s exports. With France, the trade is about $2 billion.
Fabius, the French foreign minister, at the press briefing said they were interested to work with Bangladesh on climate change.
The reason, he said, was that the country had “a very positive action and position and as a matter of fact we are at the same line”.
“It’s very important for France,” he said.
In a joint statement, the two ministers said their trip underlined the commitment of the two European nations “to broker a pragmatic, yet comprehensive, legally-binding agreement in Paris”.
“Tackling climate change is a challenging task for the whole international community. And the burden to avoid further environmental hazards caused by climate change has to be shared.”
The French foreign minister left Dhaka in a regular Etihad flight to Paris.
His German counterpart will leave early in Tuesday morning in his special flight which carried the both ministers from Berlin to Dhaka.