First Bangladeshi high commissioner accredited |19 February 2014

« It is personally a special day for me because I happen to be the first high commissioner of Bangladesh to the Republic of Seychelles. So I feel personally honoured.”

Those were the impressions of the first ever Bangladeshi diplomat to be accredited to Seychelles, Shabbir Ahmad Chowdhury, after he had presented his credentials to President James Michel at State House yesterday morning.

Asked why he feels that his country has decided to establish diplomatic relations with Seychelles, Mr Chowdhury replied that Bangladesh has recently opened embassies in more capitals and decided that its resident missions should also be assigned with more countries in view of extending cooperation, due to recent developments such as globalisation and advancement in technology, especially information technology.

In the case of Seychelles, the Bangladeshi high commissioner stated that the country manifests different areas of interest added to the fact that more Bangladeshis are now coming to work here.

“Seychelles is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and in terms of its economic and social development it is the highest in Africa.  In terms of human resources development indicator it is better than many advanced countries in the world. When our government saw that more Bangladeshis were coming to work here it thought that it would be appropriate to extend its arena of relations with Seychelles.”

As areas of future cooperation between the two countries, Mr Chowdhury has listed climate change and manpower development where he feels a win-win situation can be developed.

He has also promised to negotiate better working conditions for the about one thousand Bangladeshis currently working in Seychelles.

High commissioner Chowdhury is based in Mauritius and during his stay in Seychelles he also met Vice-President Danny Faure and the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Herminie.