He expressed high confidence that “the elections will be very good and everybody will move forward.”
The new German envoy made the remarks when he met Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali at his office.
He highly acclaimed the ‘impressive development’ and ‘positive momentum’ that Bangladesh achieved in the recent past.
The diplomat praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her leadership and ‘personal integrity’ in realizing the “great vision to move Bangladesh forward” with the ongoing large-scale infrastructure projects like Padma Bridge, ‘new hub’ of infrastructure projects in Payra and other mega-projects.
Ambassador Peter Fahrenholtz presented his credentials to President Abdul Hamid on September 19, said the Foreign Ministry here.
Globally acclaimed German’s multinational Siemens’ participation in this mega-project with more than 1300 MW power generation, will act as a ‘lighthouse’ for more German investment in Bangladesh, the Ambassador observed.
He also thanked Foreign Minister Ali for his steadfast support for the e-passport project, which a German public/private company “Veridos GmbH” is currently implementing.
Welcoming the new envoy, Foreign Minister Ali expressed deep satisfaction at the ongoing excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Germany.
He also referred to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Munich Security Conference in February 2017 and her fruitful bilateral meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Minister Ali appreciated Germany as it has been the second largest export destination, globally, for Bangladeshi exports.
He invited more German companies to do business in Bangladesh and referred to cultural ties between the two countries, including Tagore’s personal relationships with German luminaries like Albert Einstein.
The Foreign Minister briefed the Ambassador about Rohingya crisis, including recent developments that took place during the Joint Working Group meeting held in Dhaka on 30 October 2018.
He thanked Germany for both political and humanitarian support since beginning of the crisis.
The Ambassador conveyed that Germany is going to commit more resources as humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas.
He assured Bangladesh of extending continued political support, particularly within EU and the UN Security Council, where Germany will assume its non-permanent membership from January 2019.
The German Ambassador briefed Minister Ali about ‘dynamic phase of politics’ in Germany and Europe at large.