Bangladesh and Germany on Thursday signed the financial and technical agreements on development cooperation between the two countries. Following the fruitful negotiations of the two governments on May 13-14 this year, the available amount up to EUR 180.807 million (approx. Tk 2265 crore) has been captured in these agreements with up to EUR 45.8 million for technical cooperation and up to EUR 135 million for financial cooperation. Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh and Achim Tröster, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Bangladesh, signed the agreement on behalf of the two governments. The signing ceremony was attended by officials from the government of Bangladesh, the German Embassy in Dhaka, the German Development Bank KfW, the German technical cooperation agencies GIZ and BGR. Read: Germany to support Bangladesh reforms; pledges 600 million Euro for renewable enegery  The cooperation under these agreements will take place in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency (up to EUR 50.5 million), sustainable urban development (up to eur 95.5 million), technical and vocational education and training (up to EUR 5.0 million), socially and environmentally sound supply chains, trade and infrastructure (EUR 12 million), protection of biodiversity (up to EUR 6.0 million) and for a project on combating domestic violence against women and children (up to EUR 7.0 million). Germany has been providing financial and technical assistance for the development of Bangladesh since 1972, which amounts today to a total of over 3.5 billion EUR.

Hailing Bangladesh’s upcoming graduation from the group of  Least Developed Countries (LDCs) solely as the success of the people of the country, Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh nevertheless confirmed that his country has no plans to abandon the fight against extreme poverty here.

Newly appointed Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Nathalie Chuard on Wednesday said she would work to further strengthen and expand the bilateral ties.

Canada's Minister of International Development Karina Gould has recalled the excellent bilateral development cooperation between Bangladesh and Canada over the years and appreciated Bangladesh‘s contribution to this relationship.