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Bangladesh and Montenegro have agreed to form a parliamentary friendship group to strengthen relations between the two countries, promote parliamentary diplomacy and expand cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, manpower and other areas.
The issue was discussed when Montenegrin Parliament Member Gordan Stojovic called on Bangladesh’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam, MP, at her office on Monday.
The two sides stressed the importance of forming the Bangladesh-Montenegro Parliamentary Friendship Group to strengthen parliamentary ties, facilitate exchanges of delegations and enhance people-to-people contacts.
They also highlighted the potential to expand bilateral trade by diversifying products and addressing existing challenges to increase two-way commerce.
Stojovic said Montenegro, as an importing country, could increase imports from Bangladesh beyond ready-made garments to include pharmaceuticals, leather and leather goods, ceramics, and jute and jute products.
The state minister highlighted investment opportunities in Bangladesh, particularly in agriculture, agro-food processing, seafood, eco-tourism, ready-made garments, renewable energy and waste management.
Stojovic indicated that Montenegrin investors could explore opportunities in sectors such as renewable energy.
As Montenegro is an important tourism destination in the region, the Montenegrin parliamentarian also expressed readiness for joint cooperation and investment in developing Bangladesh’s tourism sector.
The two sides discussed cooperation in education, women’s empowerment, sports and culture, manpower and employment, human mobility and migration, visa facilitation, and greater cooperation in international organisations on issues such as climate change.
State Minister Shama Obaed said the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was working to increase legal migration of skilled Bangladeshi workers.
She said Bangladesh had a large pool of skilled professionals, including IT specialists, engineers, construction workers and healthcare personnel.
Stojovic said Montenegro needed more than 50,000 workers annually and expressed willingness to explore recruitment of Bangladeshi workers through government-to-government agreements to meet labour shortages in tourism, construction, hospitality and medical caregiving.
Both sides stressed the need to streamline work permit procedures and explore labour mobility agreements to facilitate the contribution of Bangladeshi workers to Montenegro’s economy.
They also emphasised the importance of making full use of Montenegro’s regional connectivity to expand cooperation between the two countries and explore new areas of economic and people-to-people engagement.