Photo: BSS Italian Ambassador to
Bangladesh Antonio Alessandro has pledged that his embassy in Dhaka, with
reinforcements from Rome, is taking steps to resolve the huge backlog in
processing work visas for Bangladeshi nationals.
The assurance was made when he paid his maiden
courtesy call on foreign adviser Md Touhid Hossain at the foreign ministry here
on Tuesday, said a foreign ministry's press release today.
During the meeting, the foreign adviser conveyed
interim government's strong commitment to deterring all forms of irregularities
that hinder regular and robust migration from Bangladesh to Italy.
The Ambassador thanked the foreign adviser for the
commitment while expressing deep regret on the current work visa backlog.
Both the adviser and the envoy also agreed to work
towards concluding a bilateral migration and mobility instrument soon in
ensuring a robust and regular migration infrastructure.
The Ambassador commended the success of the
Bangladeshi diaspora in Italy, engaged in sectors spanned across smallholder
businesses, art, movie making and so on, in garnering mutual socio-economic
benefits for both countries.
The foreign adviser said that Bangladesh-Italy
bilateral relations as intense, and alluded to the ever-growing multifaceted
engagements between the two friendly nations in areas of inter-alia,
people-to-people, business, education, and culture.
The Italian Ambassador echoed the adviser in
having Bangladesh as a major economic partner of Italy through strong business
ties in various sectors, including RMG.
The envoy urged Italy to expand trade and economic
relations between the longstanding partner countries through projecting the
myriads of business opportunities that Bangladesh has to offer.
On the Rohingya issue, both sides underlined the
repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland, Myanmar, with rights and
security.
The Italian Ambassador assured the foreign adviser
of the continued humanitarian support to the Rohingyas in Bangladesh.
