A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was inked between Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Detroit city in the state of Michigan in the USA to exchange knowledge and experience to build a better city.

Under the deal, the Detroit City will provide the DNCC with any kinds of cooperation while the Bangladeshi city corporation will share better activities with their counterpart, a DNCC press release, signed by its Public Relations Officer Mukbul Hossain, said.

DNCC Mayor Md Atiqul Islam and Detroit City Mayor Michael E Duggan signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations in the USA on Thursday (local time).

Detroit City Deputy Mayor Todda A Batison, DNCC Secretary Mohammed Masud Alam Siddique and Bangladesh American Public Affairs Committee Chairman Ehsan Takbim among others were present during the signing ceremony.  

Mayor Atiqul said the relationship between the USA and Dhaka will be strengthened through cooperation by the Detroit City on several issues including cleanliness, traffic management, drainage system and urban development as per the deal.

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He said the DNCC will be turned into a sister city—refers to a city which will be developed by exchanging all good sides with another city like the Detroit City.

Terming the bilateral relations between the countries as healthy, he said a new history was made through signing the MoU between the cities.

Mayor Atiqul said his counterpart wanted to know about handling the densely populated city as the density of their population is also very high.

Addressing the need for rearranging the traffic management in Dhaka, he said they will use the strategy applied by Detroit to bring discipline in the traffic system.

The DNCC mayor confirmed his counterpart Michael E Duggan’s visit to Bangladesh in February next year.