The unanimous views came when visiting Bahrain State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Nezar Sadiq Al-Baharna called on Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed at his office yesterday, discussing the matters of mutual interest of the two countries.

It was the first-ever ministerial-level visit from Bahrain to Bangladesh, which is being considered "beginning of a new era" in relationship between the two countries, according to an official.

During the meeting, chief adviser stressed the need for strengthening cooperation in trade, commerce and investment in various sectors, particularly gas, petrochemicals, ICT, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals, to the mutual benefit of the two peoples.

"Bahrain can invest in Bangladesh availing of the advantage of attractive incentives offered by the government for foreign investors and the prevailing investment-friendly climate," he told the visiting minister from the oil-rich Gulf country.

He said Bahrain can import world-class pharmaceutical products from Bangladesh at competitive price.

Dr Nezar evinced interest in exploring potential fields of cooperation in Bangladesh.

He said Bahrain is interested to recruit more skilled and semiskilled manpower from Bangladesh, apprising the CA that a new labour policy has been adopted in his country which would ensure insurance coverage to both the domestic and foreign workers with similar facilities.

Presently about 92,000 Bangladeshis are working in Bahrain, and the trend of recruiting manpower from Bangladesh is upward as 15,870 were taken in 2006 while 10,524 in 2005.

The Bahrain Minister lauded the caretaker government's reform recipe, particularly economic and institutional reforms, under Fakhruddin's leadership.

Dr Nezar said he was pleased to visit Bangladesh and was impressed with the hospitality of the people of Bangladesh.

The CA appreciated Bahrain's impressive economic growth.

He said Bangladesh attaches importance to its fraternal relations with Bahrain and expressed satisfaction over the existing ties and cooperation between the two countries.

The CA invited the prime minister of Bahrain to visit Bangladesh. He conveyed greetings to

the King and the Premier of Bahrain through the minister.