Dhaka, Colombo to sign 5 MoUs

Dhaka and Colombo are expected to sign at least five MoUs today to bolster the bilateral relationship in the areas of trade, investment and coastal shipping.

The MoUs will be inked during a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa. The areas of the deals include coastal shipping, preferential trade, and promotion and protection of investment.

The issues were discussed in a meeting between visiting PM Rajapaksa and Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka yesterday.

The absolute value of exports from Sri Lanka to Bangladesh increased from $10 million in 2000 to a peak of $133 million in 2018, while Sri Lankan imports from Bangladesh have risen from $4 million in 2000 to $37 million in 2019.

"If you talk about exporting to Sri Lanka, it might not be a great idea. What we need to do is to utilise the Colombo Port facilities and the expertise of Sri Lankans in the services sector," said a foreign ministry official.

According to officials, one-fourth of the West-bound ships from Bangladesh conduct transshipment in Colombo Port, while the rest are done in Singapore and Port Klang.

"The cost of transport can be up to 25 percent less and transport time can be reduced to three to four days if our ships can use the Colombo Port," said the official who deals with Sri Lankan affairs.

A coastal shipping agreement with Sri Lanka can, therefore, be a very beneficial deal, he said.

On the other hand, several hundred thousand Sri Lankans work in Bangladesh garment and other sectors in merchandising and mid-level management. They are also eventually investing in Bangladesh in various service sectors.

The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Sri Lanka to Bangladesh is about $400 million. Many of the Sri Lankans are opting to invest abroad because of high cost of doing business in Sri Lanka, an island country with a population of 22 million.

"We should think of how we can go for collaboration on utilising the Sri Lankans' skills in service sectors," the official said.

Bangladesh has got large areas of sea, but it does not have skills in deep sea fishing, which Sri Lanka has. Bangladesh can learn from Sri Lankan experience, he observed.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka needs expertise in agriculture and inland fishing from Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister Momen said Rajapaksa assured Dhaka of voting for Bangladesh in the next membership election to the UN Human Rights Council.

Bangladesh also seeks Sri Lankan support in its election as the regional director of WHO's South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) in 2023.

Momen also sought Colombo's proactive support in Rohingya repatriation as Sri Lanka is a friendly nation of Myanmar.

The Sri Lankan premier assured that his country would remain beside Bangladesh in resolving the crisis.