Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Santiago Andres Cafiero and his delegates went for a courtesy meeting with the executive committee of Bangladesh Football Federation headed by BFF president Kazi Salahuddin at the BFF House on Tuesday with hopes to strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries.
 

The delegation arrived at the BFF House at 4:00 pm before watching a 20-minute exhibition women's football match between Red and Green at the BFF artificial turf, the delegation met with BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy, vice presidents Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Imrul Hasan, Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi and other executive members in a 30-minute meeting.

"We are honoured to be here, and you made us feel at home. We feel at home because of the kind of support that you gave us at the World Cup," Cafiero said in a brief speech.

"We opened the embassy yesterday (Monday), and I feel that it is a good step to strengthen our relationship," he added.

The BFF president said, "The officials of River Plate club discussed with a few Bangladeshi clubs and visited two to three clubs today. The discussion was about what type of support they can provide us and what they can take from Bangladesh. The discussion is in the initial stages and they are working on it."

BFF senior vice president Murshedy said, "With the afresh initiative of reopening the embassy in Dhaka, the diplomatic relationship, business and trade between two countries will be strengthened. I think we also can get the technical support in football which helped reopen the embassy."

Asked whether the Argentina national football team will come to Bangladesh to play a friendly match, Salam replied, "Our president answered you before about it. It is a process and we hope it will happen in the future."

Meanwhile, the Youth and Sports Ministry, yesterday, signed an agreement with its Argentine counterparts, with both sides willing to increase the knowledge and mutual understanding to strengthen their bilateral relationship.

"We want to increase the knowledge and mutual understanding to strengthen our bilateral relationship. The government of both sides will promote football. We will also share the experience, technique, information, training, education and many other things. Under the agreement, football associations and the clubs from both countries can also discuss bilateral things," additional secretary Nazrul Islam of the Youth and sports ministry said.