France to 'maintain and boost' political ties with Bangladesh

Newly appointed Ambassador of France to Bangladesh Marie Masdupuy has said she will focus on three priority areas during her tenure in Dhaka to take the relations to a new height that include to "maintain and boost" political relations which can be translated in many different ways.

"Bangladesh and France have a very old political relationship. Even before the Liberation of Bangladesh, France gave very important political support internationally. We were at the forefront of the Bangladesh cause. This is the imprint that we all bear in our minds," she told UNB in an interview.

Sharing her three-fold priorities, Ambassador Masdupuy said the two countries can lead joint initiatives in the area of climate change, noting that France and Bangladesh are both champions in this area.

France is a champion in promoting multilateral initiatives to give a better framework to the international community about climate change issues while Bangladesh is a champion in terms of being one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to dealing with climate change impacts, the French envoy observed.

Highlighting the trade and investment issues, Ambassador Masdupuy said there are not enough French companies in Bangladesh. There were more before Covid-19 and some of them left during the pandemic. "We need to attract them back. This must be done through joint efforts by both countries," said the ambassador.

"We want to bring in many more French companies," said the ambassador, recalling her visit to Chattogram, which she finds to be a thriving region of Bangladesh.

She said the prospect of Chattogram is very encouraging and contribution of Chattogram division to Bangladesh's national economy is huge, and the port itself is making huge contributions and efforts to get an international level of competition. "This is very encouraging."

Talking about the CMA CGM, a French container transportation and shipping company, the ambassador said it is already the second largest freighter to and from Chattogram and they are looking forward to become more important as much as the port itself will technically adapt to their requests and needs and to get to the level of Colombo and Singapore.