|| Honorary Consul General of Iceland to Bangladesh Stefán S. Guðjónsson in an interview with Imtiaz Ahmed  of the Bangladesh Mail said that with a strong parliamentary majority, together with his cabinet, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Mr Tarique Rahman will put his policies on repairing the economy, creation of new jobs, fight inflation, and weakness in the banking and energy sectors.  “His focus on center right policies should help the people of Bangladesh to create more growth and prosperity,” said Honorary Consul General of Bangladesh to Iceland.The rest part of the interview is given below “1. Mr Tarique Rahman is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. How do you see Bangladesh –Iceland multilateral relations in the coming days?Answer : Iceland has always enjoyed a good and friendly relation with Bangladesh ever since independence.  Of Course, the countries are far apart and therefore have less contact than with our closest neighbors and cousins the Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.A former Permanent Secretary told me and at that time Bangladesh Ambassador to Iceland that he had for a long time held a great respect for the people of Bangladesh.  This he based on talks and observation throughout his career as a diplomat including to the United Nations.It seems to me that Prime Minister of Bangladesh Mr Rahman who has taken office at an unusually consequential moment is in a unique position to put his policies into effect.  With a strong parliamentary majority, together with his cabinet, he should be able to put his policies on repairing the economy, creation of new jobs, fight inflation, and weakness in the banking and energy sectors.  His focus on center right policies should help the people of Bangladesh to create more growth and prosperity.  Market solutions with compassion.2. Bangladesh has become a middle-income group country. How do you see the economic development of Bangladesh in the last 54 years?I´m just an outside observer and therefore not necessarily in a position to give scientific answers.  However, during the 26 years I´ve been representing Bd and received many visitors I´ve seen a noticeable change.  This actually coincides with my experience with the Chinese but in my previous job a was also Sec. General for the Federation of Icelandic Chinese Trade.03.The war in the middle-east and Russia-Ukraine war has created uncertainty in the global energy market. Bangladesh has been at risk of an energy crisis. How Bangladesh and Iceland work together to ease the energy crisis?Ans:Iceland is in a unique position since Iceland is a volcanic island and as such has vast geothermal energy resources.  But also, hydroelectric resources.  These vast energy resources, green energy, is being utilized to run business, including factories, homes and nowadays in transport, mostly automobiles.  The hot water, which we have in abundance, is used to heat up houses and offices, even swimming pools. Most swimming pools are outdoors. We also have natural baths in all corners of the country. If Bangladesh were able to utilize the geothermal resources it has that could be an area of cooperation.  Should add that Iceland has been experimenting with total currents to produce energy.4. What is the present trade volume between Bangladesh and Iceland? What is our target to reach bilateral trade within the next five years?Ans: Bangladesh exported goods worth 618828.31 US dollars to Iceland during the 2025-26 fiscal year, according to the data of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh. But we do know that Iceland buys mostly garments and textile from Bangladesh.  This originates mostly from third countries like the Netherlands or Denmark.  Iceland buys some tiger shrimp.  In return Iceland sells some know-how like machinery for the fishing industry.  Also fish oil (Lýsi).Iceland has always enjoyed a good and friendly relation with Bangladesh ever since the dependence.  Of Course the countries are far apart and therefore have less contact than with our closest neighbors and cousins the Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.5. How do you see the prospect of a Blue Economy in Bangladesh?Ans: I think it has great potential.  With bigger vessels and better equipped vessels things could be easily expanded.  But the challenge is the high air temperature since the catch goes easily bad staying long on deck. You have the knowledge, I would think, on stock assessment, right fishing equipment, quotas allocations etc.  Now you may be lacking entrepreneurship.6. The population of Iceland is decreasing. Do you see the prospect of exporting skilled Bangladeshis in Iceland in the coming days?The population of Iceland is now roughly 400 thousand and has been growing in recent years.  Partly with immigration.  Iceland still has a lot of foreign labour even though the economic situation has deteriorated somewhat in recent months.  Most of the immigration are from EU/EES countries such as Poland, the Baltic region, Spain, Portugal, Greece and more.  This is due to the EES (/European Economic Space) agreement which guarantees free movement of labour for all EU and EFTA states.7. What is the number of Bangladeshis living in Iceland and how do you evaluate their contribution to your country?There are not many people, born in Bangladesh, now living in Iceland i.e. holding Icelandic citizenship.  Official number suggests 20.  But we have had from time-to-time students and short-term visitors.8. Iceland offers scholarships to students of developing countries. Can your government give scholarships to Bangladeshi students in its educational institutions?I've already explained to two UN Universities Programme in Iceland.  Apart from that we have had some students entering some of the regular universities as well.  Current situation is unclear.11. Some 1.1 million Rohingyas are living in Cox’s Bazar after the Myanmar government pushed them out of its country. How do you see the Rohingya issue in Bangladesh?We do regularly receive news of the situation and I can say with some certainty that the people of Iceland are very sympathetic towards the issue.  The same goes for the government.……..Honorary Consul General of Bangladesh to Iceland Stefán S. Guðjónsson said “ Let  me explain first my role as an Honorary Consul General for Bangladesh in Iceland.  I am for sure representing the government of Bangladesh in Iceland.  The reason I´m called upon to do so is the fact that Bangladesh does not have an embassy in Reykjavik.  However, Iceland falls under the Bangladesh  Embassy in Copenhagen.  Currently there is no ambassador in the embassy since our friend …Karim has left the post.  I´m waiting for a new ambassador to arrive and present his credentials to our head of state, President Ms Halla TómasdóttirSo, it´s my job to call on various intuitions on behalf of the embassy in Copenhagen when they are not in a position to do so.  This helps the embassy since as a local person I´m  familiar with the Icelandic society and as a businessman I have a good network which I can call up-on when needed.Part of my responsibility is to facilitate Icelanders who are planning to visit Bangladesh for a visa.  I do not have power to issue visas but can explain how things work and also act as a go between the Icelandic passport holder and the embassy.  I´m in now position to do the same for a Bangladeshi national wanting to come to Iceland. That would be handled by my counterpart in Dhaka, I presume.I´ve been an Honorary Consul since 1995 and name a few additional things I´ve been involved with I can mention:  Getting Bangladesh students to enroll for the United Nations University in Reykjavik, a programme called a Programme on Fisheries.  This is something Iceland has hosted for more than forty years as part of the country's Development Aid.  Students come from all over the world such as Asia, Africa, South America etc.   We have so far managed to have roughly 15 students attending the programme.  This is still open for Bangladesh students and I would like to take this opportunity and encourage Bangladeshis in the fisheries sector to consider this.  This is a programme which worked out between governmental institutions in both countries.Another programme and one which has been running much longer is a UN Programme on Geothermal Energy.  We even managed to have a student for that programme even though geothermal resources Bd are only low temperature areas.I´ve received delegations who have attended the bi-annual Fisheries Exhibition, delegations who have come for the Blue Economy Conference in Reykjavik.  I have also received and assisted with permits.  At the XXX Anniversary of Tagore I hosted a modest reception for Icelanders.  We had a local actor reading translations by Asgeir Magnússon of Tagore´s poems.One of my responsibilities is to accompany the Ambassador to the presidency of the President of Iceland when he presents his Credentials.  This happens when a new ambassador arrives in Copenhagen.Personal.  On a personal note, I can inform you that in my late teen I lived and studied Marketing at a College in Leicester Sq. London.  Later I entered the University of Iceland doing accountancy.  For 12 years I worked as the Sec. General for the Federation of Icelandic Importers and Exporters and for the Iceland Chamber of Commerce.I´m married to Helga Otodontid (women in Iceland keep their name after marriage), we have two boys and two girls and now we have grandchildren – ten in all.  Olde’s boy at 17 years of age and young’s 1 year old girl.Iceland is a relatively big country 113 thousand square kilometers but with a small population less than 1 million.  The inland area is mountainous and with some clackers.  So, the populated area is around the country by the coast.  Iceland is in the middle of the North Atlantic close to the Arctic Circle.  In the wintertime we can frequently see the Northern lights and in summers we have 24 hours of sunlight.  Since this is a volcanic island, we have plenty of black beaches.