During a meeting with his counterpart from Bangladesh, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, at his office in The Hague on Wednesday, it was mentioned that King Willem-Alexander himself showed a strong interest in Bangladesh's flood-control efforts and climate change adaptation. Timmermans expressed his government's ongoing interest in collaborating with Bangladesh to address the challenges brought by climate change. He mentioned that Bangladesh and the Netherlands have very close bilateral ties. Mahmood Ali appreciated the Dutch development cooperation projects aimed at water management, agricultural productivity, and income generation in hard-to-reach char areas. He also thanked the Dutch government for their contribution to the 'Better Work Programme' of the ILO, which aims to improve working conditions in Bangladesh's ready-made garments sector. Mahmood Ali is currently in The Hague to attend the Global Oceans Action Summit for Food Security and Blue Growth, organized by the government of the Netherlands, FAO, and the World Bank. The two ministers agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a regular mechanism for bilateral foreign office consultations. Mahmood Ali thanked the Netherlands for providing training to young Bangladeshi diplomats and requested the extension of the current program by another five years. They also discussed providing reciprocal facilities and services to each other's missions in the two capitals. Mahmood Ali invited the Netherlands King to visit Bangladesh at a convenient time and also invited his counterpart to visit Bangladesh, an invitation that was accepted. Bangladesh's ambassador to the Netherlands, Sheikh Mohammed Belal, was also present during the meeting.