Dhaka - Bangladesh and Germany will hold talks on bilateral trade and investment next week as a top German official is expected to arrive in Dhaka on a two-day visit, officials said Thursday.

State Secretary Reinhard Silberberg of the German Foreign Office will arrive in Dhaka on January 27 to discuss the entire range of bilateral cooperation with his Bangladesh counterpart Touhid Hossain, an official at the German embassy in Dhaka said.

Bilateral trade and investment, development cooperation and cultural initiatives between Bangladesh and Germany will top the agenda for official talks, scheduled for January 28.

The trade volume between the two countries was on an increasing trend as Germany is the second biggest export destination for Bangladesh after the United States.

Although ready-made garments are still the main export product from Bangladesh, other business fields are also expanding in trade with Germany.

Dhaka received a significant volume of work orders for shipbuilding from Germany, which offers Bangladesh imports of textile machinery, chemicals and solutions for green energy, among others.

The trade volume between the two countries increased by 16 per cent in the first half of 2008. Trade volue was at 2 billion dollars in
2007, according to the German embassy in Dhaka.

Silberberg, who was assigned as a junior officer of the German foreign ministry in Dhaka in the early 1980s, visits Bangladesh at a time when a newly elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed has taken office, ending two years of rule by a military backed interim administration.

Bangladesh's new government wants stronger cooperation with its development partners. (dpa)