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The Maldives has expressed its keen interest to recruit more doctors and nurses from Bangladesh.
Outgoing Maldivian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Aishath Shaan Shakir conveyed the message of the island nation during his farewell call on Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen at the State Guest House Padma in the capital on Wednesday, reports BSS.
In reply, Momen welcomed the interest and said Bangladesh, with its ready pool of talented professionals, would be happy to meet the further need for human resources in the Maldives.
Momen suggested that all recruitments need to be made through agencies nominated by the government of Bangladesh and duly endorsed by the Bangladesh High Commission in Male to protect the workers' rights and wellbeing.
He called upon the Maldives government to enforce safe and conducive workplace conditions for Bangladeshi wage earners.
Highlighting that climate is an existential as well as a development issue for both Bangladesh and the Maldives, Momen expressed Bangladesh’s willingness to collaborate further with the Maldives on climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Regarding bilateral trade, the foreign minister called for exploring untapped potentials, saying, “Bangladesh seeks stronger trade ties with the Maldives”.
He requested the envoy to sensitise Maldivian business communities to import high-quality RMG, pharmaceutical, jute, leather, plastic, ceramic and agro products from Bangladesh.
He also suggested the opening of a direct merchant shipping link between Bangladesh and the Maldives and stressed earnest efforts on both sides to discover novel areas of cooperation, including the trade of soil from Bangladesh to the Maldives.
Earlier, as an expression of goodwill during the COVID pandemic, Bangladesh sent more than 100 MT of food, medicine, and health equipment to the Maldives by a navy ship.
Further consignments of 18 MT food and medicine were sent by Bangladesh Air Force flight C-130.
Bangladesh also sent a 10-member medical team to the Maldives in April 2020 to provide healthcare during the pandemic while 71 stranded Maldivian nationals were evacuated by C-130 aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force.