President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis has highlighted the “stronger than ever” partnership with Bangladesh and underlined key areas of future collaboration, including COVID-19 recovery, peace and prosperity, climate change and sustainable development.
He outlined the plan in letters written to President Md. Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the countries.
In his congratulatory message, the President of Switzerland emphasised the longstanding collaboration between the two countries in many domains as well as the continuous broadening and deepening of bilateral ties.
The Swiss embassy in Dhaka said 13 March marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Swiss Confederation and Bangladesh. On this day five decades ago, Switzerland officially recognised Bangladesh as an independent State.
To commemorate this very significant milestone, the Swiss President extended his greetings to the President and Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
“Over the last five decades, Switzerland has been a reliable development and economic partner of the people and the government of Bangladesh.”
Switzerland has invested over CHF 1.2 billion (~US$ 1.3 billion) in development assistance in the country, with significant additional contributions channelled through international financial institutions.
Switzerland’s development cooperation focuses on innovative projects benefitting the most vulnerable.
Bilateral trade has increased rapidly and today, traded goods amount to over CHF 1 billion (~US$ 1.1 billion) per year.
Most Swiss multinational companies are present in the country and provide critical products, technologies and services in various key socio-economic sectors.
“Being a candidate for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, Switzerland aims at further broadening its engagement with Bangladesh also in multilateral fora to tackle global peace and security challenges”.
