Honorary Consul of Luxembourg to Bangladesh Nasreen Zamir led the six-member delegation of the Luxembourg Business Council in Bangladesh (LBCB) recently.

AK Khan & Co Ltd’s Managing Director Salahuddin Kasem Khan, Radius Centre’s Managing Director Salahdin Irshad Imam, former managing director for Microsoft in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Laos Sonia Bashir Kabir, Mutual Trust Bank Limited Bangladesh’s Managing Director & CEO Anisuddin Ahmed Khan and Hossains Ltd’s Managing Director Irshad Hossain were the members of the team.

They met senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the European Investment Fund.

They also visited private companies such as Jan de Nul, SES, Cargo Lux and Delano.

“We were received very warmly at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs by senior ambassadors and discussed bilateral relations in all aspects related to economy, skill developments, finance and higher education,” Nasreen Zamir, who is also the convenor of the business council, told bdnews24.com.

“Our interlocutors were optimistic about future endeavours between the economic and private sectors of both countries.”

It is one of the first European countries that recognised independent Bangladesh in early 1972. But there is no active engagement between the countries since there is no mission in each other’s capital.

Nasreen Zamir, who is a designer by profession, was appointed as the honorary consul in mid-2016 to give the relations a fresh impetus.

Now Bangladesh is expecting a ‘milestone’ visit of the Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

The business council delegation during their meeting at the Ministry of Finance and Economy discussed possibilities of working together in ‘social finance’ in Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh needs skills to improve many sectors as our prime minister is keen to develop the skills development project,” the honorary council said.

“At Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce we requested for Bangladesh to become a partner country to receive programmes on skills from the House of Training.

“We are hopeful to receive their support,” she said.

“We also requested the Chamber of Commerce if private companies in Luxembourg could become members of our LBCB to interact and identify business opportunities that can mutually benefit both countries.”

She said their meeting with the European Investment Fund was “encouraging” as they gave them an overview how they can invest in Bangladesh at appropriate sectors. They also proposed to visit Bangladesh for this purpose.

“Our visit at the Jan de Nul, SES and Cargo Lux was very impressive and we are sure that they will offer an excellent opportunity for future business with Bangladesh.

“Jan de Nul is already working on Payra Port that is the biggest dredging project in Bangladesh and there are many possibilities in this region.

“SES is offering their services to a few private companies and we are hopeful of SES providing their satellite capacity to Bangladesh and help fast track Digital Bangladesh.

“With high export growth of readymade garments, partnership with Cargo Lux for air shipment will be most beneficial for Bangladesh”.

“There is great possibility and our delegates operating in this sector committed to further explore the options,” Nasreen Zamir added.