Italy is interested in selling various types of weapons and military equipment including fighter jets, satellites, patrol ships to Bangladesh. The European country wants to sign a defense agreement with Bangladesh to facilitate the sale of arms.
The matter may gain importance in the foreign secretary level talks of the two countries to be held in Dhaka on Monday (June 24).
Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the second political consultation meeting of the two countries will be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday afternoon. The meeting will be led by Foreign Secretary Masood Bin Momen on behalf of Bangladesh and Riccardo Guariglia, Secretary General of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on behalf of Italy.
Last month, Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban. At that time, he told the Prime Minister that his country is interested in the transfer of technology including the sale of arms for the modernization of the armed forces of Bangladesh. Italy is also preparing to give a second satellite to Bangladesh.
According to diplomatic sources, the agenda of the meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two countries to be held in Dhaka on Monday includes issues such as political cooperation, trade, investment, defense, immigration, satellite technology, information and communication technology, cyber security.
When asked about defense cooperation, a related senior official said that Italy has offered to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the defense sector several years ago. The country is quite interested in this matter. In recent years, Italy has been giving special importance to the issue of defense in cooperation with Bangladesh.
According to various sources, Italy is interested in selling various types of equipment to the Bangladesh Air Force and Navy. Thales Alenia, a joint venture of France's Thales and Italy's Leonardo, has shown interest in selling the second satellite to Bangladesh. In addition to aircraft, security and aerospace maker Leonardo is talking about aircraft maintenance and technology transfer. And Italian shipbuilders have offered to sell coastal patrol vessels as well as transfer technology.
However, several officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that no new project is being taken up due to financial reasons including the crisis of reserves. In such a situation, there will be no final decision about Italy's armament at the moment. And the defense MoU will not be signed now as several procedural issues are pending.
Officials in Dhaka said that the issue of safe and orderly migration of workers from Bangladesh will be given importance in this meeting between the two countries. Italy drafted a memorandum of understanding to Bangladesh in February this year to facilitate safe migration between the two countries. This draft will be discussed.
It is known that the Rohingya crisis will be discussed due to the deteriorating internal situation in Myanmar in the discussion between the foreign secretaries of the two countries. A part of the Italian delegation will visit Cox's Bazar after the meeting.