Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for Johannesburg on Tuesday to join the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) meeting with the invitation of South African President Matamela Cyrill Ramaphosa.
While briefing journalists about the visit, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday, August 20 said the prime minister will attend the “BRICS-Africa Outreach and the BRICS Plus Dialogues” on August 24 on the last day of the 15th BRICS summit.
Bangladesh joined BRICS new development bank in 2021 as the first country outside the member states. The foreign minister said the prime minister will have a busy schedule in South Africa.
Sheikh Hasina will join the Bangladesh trade and business summit being organized by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangladesh Investment Development Board. Also the “Regional Envoys Conference” organized by the foreign ministry.
The Prime Minister will take part at the dinner hosted in honour of the participating head of states and governments. On August 24, she will participate the BRICS-Africa Outreach and the BRICS Plus Dialogues.
The Foreign Minister said that the Prime Minister will speak as a member of the BRICS new development bank. Representatives of 70 countries will attend that dialogue.
The prime minister will also speak at a reception hosted by the expatiates of Bangladesh in the evening. The president of the new development bank would also call on the prime minister.
Replying to a question, the foreign minister said the side-line meetings with the different head of governments were yet to be fixed.
Officials earlier indicated that the prime minister might have meetings with Chinese president Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.The foreign minister said, “Those meetings are yet to be confirmed. Such meetings are usually set at the last moment.”
The foreign secretary said, “Since it’s a short visit, and the prime minister will go to Delhi in September for G20 where there will be chance to have bilateral meeting with the Indian prime minister,”
The foreign minister said, “Many African countries also requested for call on with the prime minister. We couldn’t fix it yet.” Prime Minister will leave from Johannesburg to Dhaka on August 26.
