Azerbaijan asked to open Dhaka mission

Bangladesh has requested Azerbaijan to open its embassy in Dhaka as it seeks to widen the relationship with the oil-rich country.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni made the request when she met President Ilham Aliyev in the capital, Baku, on Monday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a media release said the President assured Moni of considering the matter.

The minister is leading a Bangladesh delegation on a bilateral visit as well as to attend OIC Conference of Donors for Palestine on June 10 and 11.

President Aliyev ‘appreciated’ Bangladesh for its support to Azerbaijan on the issue of territorial integrity on UN resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

Azerbaijan gained independence from the then Soviet Union in 1991 amid political turmoil and against a backdrop of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Foreign Minister reiterated Bangladesh’s ‘steadfast support’ for Azerbaijan to that end.

The President said Azerbaijan was ‘keen to widen’ bilateral relations with Bangladesh, particularly expanding economic cooperation.

Both of them agreed to establish ‘Joint Economic Commission’ “to explore untapped trade, economic and investment opportunities between the two brotherly countries”.

The President praised Bangladeshi workers in foreign countries particularly in the Gulf and agreed “to have manpower cooperation instrument” signed with his country.

The President also accepted Bangladesh’s invitation to visit the country ‘as soon as possible’.

In the meeting, the Foreign Minister also requested the President to give scholarships to Bangladeshi students to study petro-chemical sciences in Azerbaijan.

Dipu Moni also met with the Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev and the Chief of State Migration Service Minister Firudin Nabiyev.

Mustafayev termed her maiden visit to Baku a ‘turning point’ in the Azerbaijan-Bangladesh relations while Nabiyev praised Bangladesh’s labour in the overseas market and hoped that they would be able to sign an MoU with Bangladesh “to have a legal base” for recruiting skilled and semi-skilled workforce from Bangladesh.

Mustafayev also expressed desire to visit Bangladesh to explore trade and investment opportunities.