Dhaka to focus on energy coop, Rohingya issue

Staff Reporter :
During the upcoming visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Dhaka this month, Bangladesh will seek their cooperation in fuel, food grains, ongoing projects and Rohingya issues.
“We will have talks on the cooperation in fuel and food grains amid the global situation. Besides, we will have discussion about Russian projects to make them continuous,” Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said on Sunday.
After a seminar titled “Look Africa : Exploring New Horizons for Bangladesh” organised by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), held in its auditorium in the capital, the Foreign Secretary told this to the journalists about the issues to be discussed during Russian FM’s visit.
Sergey Lavrov is likely to visit Dhaka on November 23 to attend the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) conference. It is going be the first high-level visit from Russia to Bangladesh. Masud Bin Momen also said that during Lavrov’s visit Bangladesh would place the Rohingya issue before him and seek their active cooperation in resolving the crisis through repatriation.
“We have a number of Russian projects especially Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. We will talk about it more seriously so that the Plant is not hampered due to the consequences of western sanctions and counter-sanctions,” he added.
Russia is one of the major dialogue partners of IORA and Bangladesh has already invited Russia to attend the conference.
Even the Russian Foreign Minister is likely to have a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to talk on bilateral issues and cooperation.
Russia supported Bangladesh during the Liberation War in 1971 when the world was divided between two blocs – capitalism and communism.
Meanwhile, the discussant in the seminar focused on the need of broadening Bangladesh’s bilateral ties with Africa, a region with vast natural resource bases, strategic importance, and economic prospects.
Aside from that, other important issues like trade and investment, climate vulnerability, labour migration, peacekeeping, technological and industrial cooperation, human resource and skills development caught the eyes.
In these challenging times, a country requires to diversify its foreign relations and Bangladesh has undertaken different measures to that end as far as relations with Africa are concerned.
Ambassador Kazi Imtiaz Hossain, Chairman of BIISS, chaired the inaugural session and Major General Sheikh Pasha Habib Uddin, Director General of BIISS, delivered the welcome address.
Ambassador Mashfee Binte Shams, Secretary (East), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the keynote speaker on the occasion.