16 February 2019 | Daily Prothom Alo
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Bangladesh Power Division and German company Siemens on Friday initialed a joint development agreement for construction of a 3600 MW LNG power plant in Payra, Patuakhali, reports BSS.
The document was signed following a meeting of Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser with prime minister Sheikh Hasina at meeting room of Hotel Sheraton in Munich, Germany where the prime minister is staying during her ongoing visit to Germany.
CEO of North West Power Generation Company of Bangladesh Khorshed Alam and chief executive officer and global president of Siemens Joe Kaeser signed the document on behalf of their respective sides.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, foreign sectary Shahidul Haque said the power plant is the beginning of Siemens ’ plan to come in Bangladesh in a big way to invest in the health, education mobility and other sectors.
Later, CEO of German company Veridos Hans Wolfgang Kunz also called on prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the hotel.
Wolfgang informed the prime minister about the progress of manufacturing technologically advanced e-passport for Bangladesh saying the company would be able to handover first batch of e-passport to Bangladesh authority by June 2019.
Such technologically very advanced e-passports are used only in two countries in the world -- Germany and Bangladesh. The passport is almost impossible to forge, the Veridos CEO said.
Wolfgang Kunz expressed interest in data processing and other sectors also, the foreign secretary said adding the company has a plan to invest in a big way in Bangladesh.
The prime minister welcomed the Veridos decision to invest in Bangladesh and technology transfer for setting up of a plant for production of e-passport in Bangladesh.
The prime minister hoped that Bangladeshis would be able to operate the e-passport production plant by taking necessary training and produce e-passport for other countries.