Bangladesh-Mexico Bilateral Relations Brochure

Diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Mexico were officially established on 8 July 1975, four years after Bangladesh’s emergence as an independent country. Since then, the relations between the two countries have increased, but have not reached to its fullest potentials. This is primarily because of the geographic distance, language and cultural barriers, and Bangladesh’s lack of presence in terms of diplomatic representations in Latin America. Bangladesh and Mexico did not have resident Missions in their respective Capitals until 2013. As an effort to increase bilateral relations with Latin America in general and Mexico in particular, Bangladesh opened its diplomatic Mission in Mexico City in June 2013 with the view to engage with the country in a proactive manner. Mexico is yet to reciprocate with a resident Mission in Dhaka. Mexican Ambassador resident in New Delhi is concurrently accredited to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and Mexico share similar values of liberal democracy providing a solid platform for strengthening the relations. Unlike Bangladesh, Mexico follows a presidential system of governance where the President is the Head of the State as well as the Head of Government. The two countries also follow market economies with the private sector playing a vital role.

The two countries also have a lot in common in terms of challenges and achievements in socio-economic sector. Poverty reduction, women empowerment, disaster management, climate change, UN peacekeeping etc are just a few areas among many where the two countries could collaborate and benefit from each other’s experiences.

Both the countries emphasize closer economic ties and further exploration of bilateral and multilateral cooperation. These include building institutional mechanism of regular bilateral political consultations at the Foreign Office level; agreement on bilateral trade and economic cooperation; agreement on scientific and technical cooperation; and agreement on exemption of visas for diplomatic and official passport holders. The two countries also working on the exchange of scholarships for higher studies, exchange of language training programs, cultural exchange program, and online interactions between educational institutions at junior and high school levels. Both sides show interests to further strengthening collaboration at multilateral fora on issues of common interests.