The Korean government has pledged to provide an additional $800,000 worth of Covid-19 testing kits to help curb further spread of the virus in Bangladesh.
Newly appointed South Korean Ambassador in Dhaka Lee Jang-keun expressed Korea’s “strong support” for the government and the people of Bangladesh in their fight against COVID-19 while meeting Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, state minister Md Shahriar Alam and foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen.
Through KOICA, Korea’s aid agency, Korea has provided PPEs to nurses at the National Institute of Advanced Nursing Education and Research and emergency food to vulnerable residents in the Mugda area last month.
The Korean embassy said they are planning to donate PCR test kits and walk-through booths to the Ministry of Health in the coming weeks.
The ambassador emphasized his “firm commitment” to closer bilateral ties between Korea and Bangladesh, building up on the visit by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon to Bangladesh in July 2019, which marked the first visit by a Korean Prime Minister to Bangladesh in 17 years.
He said it is “imperative” that the two countries work closely on follow-up measures to deepen and expand the relationship in a variety of areas, including the rescheduling of the vice minister-level policy consultation meeting postponed earlier this year.
Korea ranks 6th in terms of accumulated FDI in Bangladesh with $1.1 billion and 12th in wage remittances by Bangladeshi expatriate workers.
The volume of bilateral trade reached around $1.7 billion last year and around 150 Korean companies are now investing in Bangladesh.