<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the Swiss entrepreneurs to make investments in Bangladesh to create a mini Switzerland in the South Asian country.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Swiss businesses can invest in Bangladesh in the special economic zones (SEZs), she said, adding "We will provide lands (in SEZs) and they can make a mini Switzerland here,” she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The premier made this call when Swiss Ambassador to Bangladesh Reto Siegfried Renggli paid a courtesy call on her at the Prime Minister’s Office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the reporters after the call on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In response the ambassador said Swiss companies are interested to invest in Bangladesh, said the press secretary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The envoy said the volume of trade between Bangladesh and Switzerland should be increased.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said he will continue to work for further strengthening the bilateral relations and cooperation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The envoy appreciated the economic development of Bangladesh under the leadership of PM Hasina in the last one decade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said that Switzerland would work together with Bangladesh to fight the adverse impact of climate change.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PM Hasina said the focus of her government is on the development of rural people of Bangladesh. “The backbone of development is middle class people,” she added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We are taking many programmes to reduce the extreme poverty rate to zero, at least to one percent,” she added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prime minister mentioned that Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had a vision to “make Bangladesh as the Switzerland of the East”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She recalled that she was with Bangabandhu when he visited Switzerland at the invitation of Swiss government after undergoing surgery in London.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Talking about connectivity, she said Bangladesh can be a bridge between the East and the West. So, the government is now developing the airports to this end.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We look forward to transforming Bangladesh-Switzerland bilateral relations into a broad-based partnership," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prime minister assured the ambassador of extending all cooperation in discharging his duty in Dhaka.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Swiss envoy handed over the copy of a letter to Sheikh Hasina, which Bangabandhu sent to the Switzerland government in replying to Swiss recognition to Bangladesh as an independent country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Receiving the letter, the prime minister said that the letter will be displayed in the museum.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PM's Principal Secretary M. Tofazzel Hossain Miah And Deputy Head of Swiss Mission in Bangladesh Corinne Henchoz Pignani were present. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bndb24/kh</div>