Italy to Support Bangladesh's Police Reforms: Envoy

Italy would support Bangladesh's police reforms and work together for formal migration to the country, Italian ambassador in Dhaka Antonio Alessandro said today. The ambassador made the comments when he paid a courtesy call on Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus at the latter's Tejgaon office here.

Safe, organised and regular migration to Italy, economic and trade cooperation, and police reforms dominated the talks during the meeting. The meeting came a week after the Chief Adviser and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni held a one-on-one meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York.

During the UN meeting, Prof Yunus called for the large-scale formal migration from Bangladesh to Italy. Meloni said both nations should work hard to cut irregular migration. "We want to protect Bangladesh migrants. We have to work for better regular migration," Ambassador Alessandro said.

The Italian ambassador praised the reform efforts of the Interim Government. He offered Italian support for police reforms, including training for the security forces. "Our police do it in several countries," he said. The ambassador hoped that bilateral trade between the two nations would "rebound soon." Currently, the bilateral trade between the two nations is around $2.5 billion, he said. The Italian Embassy would also hold a movie festival and a ballet soon, the ambassador said.