State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam has participated in the celebration of the 200th year anniversary of Mexican independence.

The celebration programme, also attended by a number of high dignitaries of different countries, was presided over by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

State Minister Alam is visiting Mexico at the invitation of the Mexican President, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Bangladesh State Minister arrived in Mexico City on September 25 and was received by Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Mexico Abida Islam.

Apart from the official delegation led by State Minister Shahriar Alam, a 39-member military contingent from Bangladesh performed a celebratory parade in Mexico City on 16 September 2021, and a 14-member cultural troupe is also visiting Mexico to showcase Bangladesh’s rich cultural heritage.

The Mexican President, during his speech in the celebration programme, thanked Bangladesh for active participation in the celebration of 200 years of Mexican independence.

On the sidelines of the celebration programme, Bangladesh’s State Minister had a brief meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is also visiting Mexico to attend the celebration, and discussed issues of mutual concerns.

Shahriar Alam also met Serbian, Dutch, French and Greek Ministers attending the event.

He held a bilateral meeting with Ambassador Carmen Moreno Toscano, Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister, at Mexican Foreign Office (SRE).

This has been indeed the first bilateral meeting between two sides since his visit to Mexico in 2015, during which an MoU on regular bilateral consultation was signed.

During the meeting, the Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister thanked Bangladesh’s State Minister for accepting the invitation to attend the celebration of 200 years of independence of Mexico, and also thanked for sending the military contingent and the cultural troupe.

She also informed that a small military contingent from Mexico would participate in the parade of the closing ceremony of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Independence and the 100th birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister praised Bangladesh for the extraordinary achievements in women empowerment, and in response, Alam briefed her on the extraordinary successes Bangladesh has achieved in recent years not only in women empowerment but also in achieving MDGs and SDGs.

The State Minister also emphasized the importance of regular holding of foreign office consultations (FOC) between two governments as per the MoU signed between two governments, underscoring that Bangladesh remains flexible with the modalities of holding such consultation in near future.

He also emphasized the early conclusion of the MoU between two countries for visa exemption of diplomatic and official passports, and also proposed that diplomatic training academies of both countries can cooperate with each other including in language learning.

Alam thanked Mexico for its strong support to Bangladesh on Rohingya issue, and expressed satisfaction over the two countries’ multilateral cooperation including reciprocal support arrangements in different multilateral elections.

The State Minister informed the Mexican Minister that he has brought a small business delegation with him, going to meet the Mexican business people as well as Mexican Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade during the visit, and there will be an MoU signed between FBCCI and Mexican COMCE that might positively contribute to enhancing the trade relations between two countries.

He also opined that two countries can initiate and conclude MoUs in different areas, including in the area of double taxation.

The Mexican Deputy Minister proposed that the FoC can be initiated through DG-level virtual consultations, and also expressed her government’s willingness to conclude the almost finalized MoU of mutual administrative assistance in customs matters.

She also emphasized enhanced cultural cooperation and agreed with the proposal that areas of cooperation between diplomatic academies including language training can be explored.

They also discussed their respective country’s Covid-19 situation and management.