<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged Italian businesses to make investment in Bangladesh's special economic zones for the mutual benefits of the two countries.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Businesses and investors can invest in Bangladesh in the special economic zones,” she said while Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro called on her at her official residence Ganabhaban.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PM’s speech writer M Nazrul Islam briefed the reporters after the call on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He quoted the PM as saying&nbsp; that Bangladesh has a huge domestic market apart from South Asian and South East Asian markets.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Bangladesh can be the big central market encircling South Asian and South East Asian markets,” she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prime minister said that after 2026 Bangladesh will graduate to a developing country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In this connection, she urged Italy to help in continuing the GSP plus facilities to&nbsp; Bangladeshi exports in the European countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She also emphasised on increasing trade between the two countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There is ample scopes to increase trade and commerce between the two countries,” she said.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She requested to explore and utilise those opportunities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Regarding the illegal migrants in the European countries including Italy, the prime minister said that the government is taking all out initiatives so that no one illegally enters to any country abroad.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It is very much regretful that many people including Bangladeshis died in the Mediterranean sea while trying to go to the European countries,” she observed.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“For that we are taking legal steps as well as creating awareness among the people,” she said briefly elaborating various measurers of the government.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She requested Italy to take more Bangladeshi manpower through legal process.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The PM extended an invitation to Italian prime minister to visit Bangladesh at his convenience .</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Italian ambassador said that his country wants to assist Bangladesh in technology transfer and defence purchase, and modernisation in various sectors.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also expressed his country’s keen interest to provide the second satellite to Bangladesh.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He put emphasis on trade diversification to tape the trade and commerce opportunities between the two countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Talking about the Rohingya issue both agreed on the dignified repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals to their homeland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Currently, more than one million Myanmar nationals, Rohingyas, are taking shelter in Bangladesh after being driven out by the Myanmar military junta. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>