Bangladesh and Iceland have agreed to strengthen collaboration in the areas of mutual interest, particularly fisheries management.Both countries also decided to cooperate in jointly overcoming the threat of climate change. This was agreed at a meeting between the two foreign ministers, AH Mahmood Ali and Lilja Alfredsdóttir, on Sep 7 when the Bangladesh foreign minister paid an official visit, said a joint statement on Friday. The visit was part of his tour of the Nordic countries with a view to what the foreign ministry said revitalising Bangladesh’s bilateral cooperation, including exploring new areas of cooperation. He is now visiting Sweden. During his Iceland visit, he also met with Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannssonat. In his official talks with his counterpart Alfredsdóttir, Ali thanked him for extending cooperation for the development of the fisheries sector in Bangladesh. The United Nations University Fisheries Training Program (UNU-FTP) in Iceland has a MoU with Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF) since Sept 2014. The two ministers noted that a total of 12 fellows from Bangladesh had taken part in the six-month training programme. The UNU-FTP has taken a total of five trips to Bangladesh for field studies, scouting, and partnership building. The first short course was held in Bangladesh from May 8 to May 13 this year. Ali also sought support in its desire to be an observer at the Arctic Council. His counterpart assured him of giving the matter due consideration. He also commended the long standing friendly relations between Bangladesh and Iceland, which commenced immediately after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. They agreed to explore new avenues to improve trade and investment relations, including encouraging public-private partnerships in marine resources management in the Bay of Bengal. The Icelandic Foreign Minister accepted an invitation to visit Bangladesh, along with a delegation, particularly comprising experts and entrepreneurs from the fisheries sector and geothermal energy. The Bangladesh foreign minister also visited the second largest geothermal plant in the world Orkuveita Reykjavikur (OR) which is based in Iceland, and Ocean Cluster House, a state-of-theart ocean resources and fisheries innovation hub comprising entrepreneurs and researchers. The foreign ministry said he was fascinated at the ongoing work on high value addition in the Icelandic fisheries sector, such as fish skins used for leather and clothes and intestines for medicine and human skin replacement. He also visited the United Nations University (UNU) in Reykjavik and exchanged views with the faculty members, including a Bangladeshi student, M. Mahbub Alam, who is about to finish his Ph.D. in fisheries under a fellowship offered by the UNU.