Dhaka, Pretoria agree to boost relations

Dhaka and Pretoria yesterday agreed to enhance bilateral trade and discussed about signing agreements in the sectors of agriculture, avoidance of double taxation, and cooperation in education, arts, culture, and sport.
The two sides agreed to exchange delegations of government officials, business community, experts and scientists over the next couple of months.
The agreement was reached during a senior official level meeting here. Additional Foreign Secretary Mustafa Kamal led the Bangladesh side while Ambassador Anil Sooklal, deputy director general of Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, led his delegation.
The meeting decided to hold the next Senior Official's Meeting in Pretoria in 2013, said a press release. They discussed about abolition of visa for official passports.
On the first day of their four-day tour, the delegation visited a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical plant near Dhaka.
Besides, during their stay in Dhaka, the delegation would pay call on the foreign minister and meet senior officials of the ministries of commerce, land, agriculture as well as the leadership of BOI, BKMEA and FBCCI.
Later, the South African delegation called on Foreign Secretary Mijarul Qayes at his office and briefed him about the proceedings of the meeting.
Qayes shared his view and advised them to focus attention on joint cooperation in the fields of industries and trade, human resources development, and higher education.
The foreign secretary further said that Bangladesh is in the process of opening a number of missions in the region to increase her diplomatic presence in Africa.