Belarus has expressed interest in importing labour from Bangladesh and increasing the number of students from the South Asian country, a Bangladesh Foreign Ministry statement said on Sunday.
The two countries held the Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) co-chaired by Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud bin Momen and Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Evgeny Shestakov in Dhaka on Sunday.
“All important aspects of bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Belarus including agricultural, educational and military cooperation, cooperation in science and technology etc. were discussed during the consultations,” the statement said.
During the consultations, Bangladesh also sought Belarus' assistance in finalising a free trade pact with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) - an intergovernmental organisation comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the statement said.
Belarus is the main source of potassium fertiliser for Bangladesh, according to the Belarusian embassy.
"Foreign Secretary thanked Belarusian people for their valuable support during Bangladesh’s War of Liberation in 1971, as a part of the then USSR. Both delegations expressed satisfaction over the current status of bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed hope that in the coming days bilateral relations will be further strengthened and deepened," the statement said.
According to official statistics reported in the local media, Bangladesh is one of the world's leading sources of labour.
A record 11 million Bangladeshis migrated to other countries in 2022. Over the past three decades, an average of 500,000-600,000 Bangladeshi workers are reported to have migrated to other countries each year.