<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Bangladesh and Botswana have signed an agreement on visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and official passports and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral political consultations.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam had bilateral talks with his Botswana counterpart Lemogang Kwape in Gaborone Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state minister is on a two-day visit to Botswana, marking the first official bilateral visit from the foreign ministry.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Bangladesh high commissioner accredited to Botswana and officials of the foreign ministry were also present at the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Botswana foreign minister called Shahriar's visit symbolic of the mutual desire to strengthen the relations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Botswana and Bangladesh may share experience in economic areas and identify concrete areas of cooperation, Lemogang said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides are cooperating at international platforms like the UN and Commonwealth and supporting each other at the bodies, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lemogang also expressed a desire to visit Bangladesh soon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shahriar reaffirmed Bangladesh's keen interest to develop relations with Botswana.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He described Bangladesh's achievements in climate adaptation, mitigation, women empowerment and MDGs areas as well as its sustained efforts to achieve the targets of SDGs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Referring to the excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Botswana at bilateral and multilateral levels, he sought the support of the country's government at the UN elections where Bangladesh has floated candidature.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bangladesh would be happy to share its knowledge with Botswana in the agriculture and textile sectors where it has a comparative advantage, Shahriar said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides may forge cooperation in food safety and food security, he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He proposed setting up contract farming in Botswana for the mutual benefit of the two countries as Botswana has plenty of uncultivated lands.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides agreed to celebrate 50 years of their diplomatic relations by organising different programmes in Gaborone and Dhaka. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>