DHAKA, Dec 3, 2022 (BSS) –State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury has called for increasing mutual cooperation between the United Kingdom and Bangladesh to make the shipping sector of Bangladesh more modern, up-to-date and environment friendly.
 
The state minister made this call in a bilateral meeting with Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the British Department for Transport of Baroness Vere of Norbiton in London on Friday, according to a press release, received here today.
 
Khalid said that in 1972, at the request of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first Marine Academy started in Bangladesh with the cooperation of the British technical cooperation aid, the release added.
 
On the occasion of 50 years of bilateral relations between the two countries, the state minister requested for cooperation in various fields of Bangladesh's shipping sector, especially for mutual recognition of certificates of competency of Bangladeshi seafarers.
 
 He also requested to remove the complications of issuing visa on arrival to Bangladeshi seafarers at different ports of UK.
In the meeting, the British minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's initiatives in the shipping sector of Bangladesh, especially the presence of 16,000 sailors and more than 5,000 mariners and 100 women mariners of 14 Marine Institutes of Bangladesh.
 
The British minister also praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's strong leadership in tackling climate change.
 
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the IMO Saida Muna Tasneem and Director-General of the Department of Shipping, Bangladesh Commodore Md Nizamul Haq were present, among others, at the meeting.