Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Bangladesh Park Young Sik on Wednesday said in Dhaka that unlike India, China or the United States, his country did not have any strategic interest here in Bangladesh.聽
鈥楽outh Korea is not India, China or the US. It does not have strategic interests in Bangladesh. Therefore, both the countries could further develop bilateral relations in a mutually beneficial way,鈥� the Korean envoy told a seminar.
The Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies organised the Country Lecture series titled 鈥楤angladesh-South Korea Relations: Pathways for Future Cooperation鈥� at its auditorium in the city.
He said that India was focused on its strategic independence, China was working on its Belt and Road Initiative while the US鈥檚 priority was Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Speaking as chief guest at the event, chief adviser鈥檚 special assistant on the finance ministry, Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, said that although Bangladesh had better financial and human resources, it did not have social capital since the civil society was divided on political, religious and ethnic lines hindering the country鈥檚 overall development.聽
鈥業t is an irony that Bangladesh is now inviting Korea, which was one of the poorest countries in the 1960s and later developed gradually on its own, to teach us鈥angladesh had better prospects and resources to develop the country on its own,鈥� said Anisuzzaman, also an economist.
He stressed the need for transfer of knowledge and technology from Korea for the country鈥檚 development without depending on aid.
He called upon all concerned not to allow any civil society or professional orgnisations to split on ethnic, political or religious lines.
The Korean envoy said that complexity in getting Bangladeshi visas, the prolonged process at the Chhattogram port and the existing National Board of Revenue were still barriers.
He said that the NBR officials were opposing the NBR being split into two divisions鈥� one for dealing with the policy and the other for tax collections.
BIISS chairman AFM Gousal Azam Sarker chaired the event while its director general and Major General Iftekhar Anis delivered the welcome speech.
BIISS research director Mahfuz Kabir made a presentation on 鈥楧imensions of Bangladesh-South Korea Relations.鈥�
Anisuzzaman put emphasis on the continuity of the deep bilateral cooperation and the necessity of robust diplomatic engagements.
The Korean ambassador said that Korea and Bangladesh shared a strong economic partnership that extended beyond development assistance and was grounded in robust bilateral trade and foreign direct investment.
Senior officials from different ministries, relevant government organisations, representatives from different think tanks, academicians, business people, serving and retired military officials, journalists, and students from different universities participated in the country lecture.