Russian foreign minister, French president due in Dhaka Sept 7, 11

Staff Reporter :
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French president Emmanuel Macron will visit Dhaka on 7, 11 September.

Diplomatic sources in Dhaka and Paris on Wednesday confirmed Macron’s visit to Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said Bangladesh would raise the Rohingya issue during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s planned visit to Bangladesh on September 7.

“We will have a bilateral meeting the day when he will arrive here. We have many bilateral issues to discuss.

We have the Rohingya issue too,” Momen told reporters at the Foreign Service Academy.

A source said French president Emmanuel Macron is visiting Bangladesh at the invitation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He will hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Russian Foreign Minister will also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during his stay in Dhaka.

This would be the first trip of a French president to Dhaka after three decades. Then President François Mitterrand visited Bangladesh in 1990.

In context of the Russia-Ukraine war and the upcoming national election in Bangladesh, diplomatic analysts consider the visits of politicians of two important countries Bangladesh-France important.

Two countries laid emphasis on the bilateral cooperation in trade, investment and defence during the visit of the prime minister.

Two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation in Paris after the meeting of two top leaders.

French president Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Dhaka on 11 September and leave on 12 September.

One week ahead of his visit, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Bangladesh.

The Russian Foreign Minister will attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 after completing his visit to Bangladesh.