Colombo-Dhaka direct flights soon

Direct flights between Colombo and Dhaka are set to take off soon, said Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday.

"We have already finalised the air services agreement between the two countries." We expect our national carriers will soon take advantage of this by flying directly from Colombo to Dhaka and [vice versa]," Minister Bogollagama told reporters following talks with Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at state guest house Padma in the city.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Shahadat Hossain told reporters at the guest house that the proposed air route could include Nepal (Colombo-Dhaka-Katmandu-Colombo). Bogollagama stressed: "We have a very close relationship that is growing and we want it to be more accelerated in terms of greater connectivity between the two capitals."

The minister arrived in Dhaka on Saturday to hand over a formal invitation to attend the 15th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, to be hosted by the island nation on Aug 2-3.

He handed Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury an invitation letter for a meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers on July 31.

The foreign adviser thanked his Sri Lankan counterpart and hoped to join both meeting and summit. Considering the growing interest shown by the international community to associate with SAARC, the two Ministers exchanged views on adopting comprehensive guidelines for Observers in SAARC, during the Summit.

Bogollagama met Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed later Sunday to hand over the SAARC summit invitation. The Bangladesh Chief Advisor upon receiving the invitation said that he was looking forward to attending the Summit and expressed his best wishes to Sri Lanka for a successful Summit in Colombo.

On the agenda of the 15th SAARC summit, Bogollagama said: "We have identified seven key areas ... including the new dimension of food security for the peoples of the SAARC region."

"And how we are going to meet the energy crisis that is looming over our economies in the SAARC region; how we are going to share our resources and alternative sources for generation of energy that could cater to the needs of SAARC," he added.

The minister hoped that bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka would increase in future. He is scheduled to leave Dhaka today.

Minister Bogollagama while appreciating the initiatives taken at the 13th SAARC Summit in Dhaka and the progress made since the 14th SAARC Summit said that the continuity will be the guiding principle of the 15th SAARC Summit, to consolidate the benefits so far achieved in order to augment the process towards realizing the objectives of SAARC.

He also remarked that the theme adopted for the Colombo Summit, "SAARC: Partnership for our People" is most appropriate and well thought out one, towards reaching the ultimate goal of integrating the peoples of South Asia.

BDNews