The President met with visiting Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday (May 18) and exchanged a number of opinions on various agenda items concerning the two nations and the region as a whole.

The two leaders saw that trade and economy play a big role in bilateral cooperation between Korea and Bangladesh and pledged to further strengthen ties in the field of trade, investment, technology transfers, energy and social infrastructure based on mutual equality and reciprocity.

First, the two leaders decided to gear up bilateral trade and to work together to resolve any resulting imbalance. Bangladesh expressed gratitude for Korea’s imposing non‐tariff measures on certain of its exports and then called for an extension of that through the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) and Korea’s non‐tariff, non‐quota system reserved for the World Trade Organization’s Least Developed Countries.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also thanked Korea for aid given and called for more assistance in building its human resource by establishing training centers for job, nursing and IT education, among other things. The President agreed to keep up support measures to help with Bangladesh’s economic and social development and to make a positive review of expanding assistance through Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF).

Bangladesh, meanwhile, welcomed the active participation of Korean companies in various infrastructure‐building projects in areas like energy, telecommunications and transportation. Consequently, the two leaders agreed to increase this participation and speed up the already ongoing projects between the two countries, including that concerning the Korea Export Processing Zone (KEPZ).

The two sides decided to widen cooperation in the areas of education, personnel exchange and national defense. Korea decided to continuously offer scholarships and other opportunities for education to students and researchers from Bangladesh.

The President praised Bangladesh’s hard work to realize regional cooperation in the South Asian region. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave equal praise for Korea’s constructive role as an observer country in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). She also gave credit to Korea’s efforts to play a bridge between the developed and developing nations for the upcoming G‐20 Summit, scheduled to take place this year on Nov. 11 and 12.

The two leaders agreed to keep in touch regarding pending issues around the world such as the global financial crisis, trade liberalization, climate change, energy, food security, terrorism and more.

During the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s three‐day visit to Seoul, the two leaders signed on the basic framework for the EDCF to operate in Bangladesh and memoranda of understanding on energy cooperation, environment protection and cultural exchange between two countries from 2010 to 2014.