Free trade agreement will be made between Dhaka and Phnom Penh

News desk: Bangladesh and Cambodia will sign a free trade agreement to expand trade. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to make the agreement in a bilateral meeting at Hotel Lotte Palace in New York on Thursday (September 22) afternoon. Later, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen briefed the reporters. The Minister said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed her interest in making a Free Trade Agreement with Cambodia to expand trade cooperation and the Prime Minister of Cambodia has also agreed to this proposal. Abdul Momen said, in the meeting, the Prime Minister of Cambodia expressed his interest in making an agreement on the export of rice from Cambodia to Bangladesh. Also invited Bangladesh to invest in agriculture based investment, physical infrastructure development in Cambodia. The foreign minister said that as the chair of ASEAN, Cambodia will continue all efforts to solve the Rohingya problem and assured the prime minister. Later, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held a meeting with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu at Hotel Lotte Palace. Bilateral cooperation issues between Bangladesh and Kosovo were discussed in the meeting. International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Antonio Vitorino met the Prime Minister on Thursday afternoon. The Foreign Minister said that in the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that due to the Covid epidemic and the war in Ukraine, countries that send migrants worldwide are facing several challenges. IOM can assist countries concerned by making effective recommendations to address these challenges. The Prime Minister thanked IOM for its cooperation in repatriating Bangladeshi victims of trafficking to various countries including Libya and the European Union. Abdul Momen said that the Director General of IOM appreciated the steps taken by Bangladesh for the welfare of migrants. He expressed hope that the areas of cooperation between Bangladesh and IOM will expand further in the future. Besides, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is the representative of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council at the same place.