Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr D Shevchenko talks to daily sun senior staff reporter Tarik Hasan Shahriar at a city hotel on Friday.Bayazid Akter Ukraine finds great potential in Bangladesh’s trade and commerce and there exists bright prospects for increasing merchandise import from Bangladesh through extending bilateral relation between Bangladesh and Ukraine. In an exclusive interview with dailysun, The Ambassador of Ukraine Oleksandr D. Shevchenko said he strongly believes that Bangladesh and Ukraine has a very cordial relationship on the diplomatic front apart from religious and cultural bonds. The Ukraine Ambassador stressed that this relationship needs further attention to strengthen economic cooperation by initiating appropriate steps from both the government for increasing the volume of bilateral trade and commerce. The Ambassador said that trade volume between Bangladesh and Ukraine was 200 million US dollar during last four years since 2008 and we are expecting the trade volume will increase rapidly as we have some potential to export more items at low cost compared with other states. “We can export fertilizer, dry milk, sugar apart from wheat, sunflower oil and other items” he added. Regarding his recent visit to Dhaka, Ukraine Ambassador Oleksandr D. Shevchenko said, “I feel very comfortable in meeting with government officials and businessmen to explore new avenues for bilateral trade and investment.” “During this visit I had the opportunity to meet with the officials of ministry of Agriculture, Jute & Textile, Commerce and meet with food minister to convey the message of our government as to what we intend to do in nearer future with Bangladesh in terms of expanding our trade and commerce,” the Ambassador also said. Regarding increasing the export from Bangladesh, the Ambassador said that Bangladesh is moving forward towards achieving sustainable economic growth and going to be middle-income country within government’s set time. “Some industries are developing fast and their product quality is fine. We are now importing garment products, Shrimp and medicine and planning to import tea, ceramics, jute cotton,” he added. “I have met with the secretary of commerce ministry and got the positive feedback from him in strengthening the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Ukraine on trade and commerce,” he also said. The Ambassador stressed the need for constituting a bi-lateral inter-governmental Commission for boosting the export-import between Bangladesh and Ukraine which will help to boost up inter-state trade and commerce “Now we are moving forward for political dialogue with ministry of foreign affairs to open the multilateral relations with Bangladesh,” he assured. In reply to a query about any joint venture in Bangladesh, the Ambassador said Ukraine has huge potentials in different industrial sector; ship breaking industry is one of them. “We have not discussed on particular issue with the government but we will invite Bangladeshi businessmen to visit Ukraine first, then Ukraine entrepreneurs will make a dialogue with Bangladeshi businessmen what to do next,” he added. “We have experienced engineers, technicians who can render cooperation for setting up ship breaking industry in Bangladesh,” the Ambassador assured. Regarding the joint venture with Bashundhara Group, Ukraine Ambassador said, “We had discussed with Chairman of Bashundhara Group and got some proposals from the country’s largest industrial group. “We have gladly received the proposal to consider such proposals in future as Bashundhara Group has visited Ukraine to see its potentials,” he added. Regarding the education in Ukraine, Ambassador said a good number of students are coming from Bangladesh for studies who are continuing their education at low tuition fees. “We have sent draft agreement to ministry of education to make a viable agreement between Bangladesh and Ukraine on education,” he added. Asked about the easy visa processing for Bangladeshis, the Ambassador said, “I maintain diplomatic relations with five countries staying at New Delhi, India. “We have inadequate manpower right now in our New Delhi embassy for which we are incapable to deploy any of them in Bangladesh for opening a permanent consulate but we have a plan to expand the embassy link in Bangladesh since the export-import between Bangladesh and Ukraine is boosting day by day” he added. Regarding the recent plane crash, the Ambassador said this is tragic accident and 298 people died who were from different countries. “Separatist groups might have been involved in Malaysian plane crash in Ukraine,” he added. The Ukrainian cargo and general aircraft was shot down by militants on July 14 and 16 and June 13 our ‘Transport Plant’ was shot down by a group of militants then our Ukrainian government immediately declared emergency and unilaterally declared ceasefire for 10 days, the Ambassador also observed. “After the incident, we invited United Nations, FBI, Interpol, International Community and experts from different countries to investigate the incidents impartially but they could not enter the place of accident because militants and separatists cordoned the area,” he assured. The Ambassador also pointed out that the relations between Russia and Ukraine had been deteriorating from the very beginning when Russia had intervened in Crimea. But Ukraine government had not launched any single attack against any group. There are 100 ethnic minorities in Ukraine and they are living in the country with peace and happiness. And the Ukrainian government considers them as main stream citizens. Regarding the Gaza aggression by Israel and genocide on Palestinian people, Ukraine Ambassador said that it is very tragic that thousands of innocent people like- children, women and civilians have lost their lives due to aggression by Israel. “Such incidents can not be justified,” he lamented. Ukraine Ambassador narrated that UN secretary General and US president Barack Obama called upon the Israeli government to declare ceasefire and at last they (Israeli government) have agreed to a ceasefire. “This issue needs to be discussed in UN Security Council to find out the best possible solution on conflict between Palestine and Israel,” he added.
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