Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen will have a meeting with his British counterpart Dominic Raab in London in between his visit to Switzerland and the Netherlands, and discuss ways to further strengthen the relations between the two Commonwealth countries -- Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.
Momen said Bangladesh High Commissioner in London, Saida Muna Tasneem, informed him that there had been no meeting with the British foreign minister for a long time and Dominic Raab has already given an appointment for a meeting in London.
“I’ll also have a separate meeting with Alok Sharma (president of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in London,” the foreign minister told news agency UNB.
“Things are being finalised,” he said, mentioning that he will visit London in between his visit to Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Momen will also hold a meeting with businesspeople during his busy stay in London, in additional to other programmes, said a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He will leave Dhaka Sunday morning beginning his tri-nation visit, said the official.
The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow between 31 October and 12 November.
Apart from bilateral issues, vaccine cooperation and removing Bangladesh from the red list (for entering England amid the pandemic) are likely to be discussed, said a diplomatic source.
Bangladesh finds no justified reason to be on the red list as the Covid-19 situation is not as bad and several other countries which are not on the red list, said an official.
If anyone from a red listed country enters the UK, he or she must book a quarantine hotel and undergo coronavirus (Covid-19) tests which are quite expensive.
Strategic Dialogue
On 9 September, Bangladesh and the UK will hold the fourth Strategic Dialogue in London and discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations covering political relations, economic and development partnership, security and defence cooperation, and exchanges on current global issues.
Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen, who is scheduled to reach London on 8 September, will lead the Bangladesh delegation while Sir Philip Robert Barton KCMG OBE, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) will lead the UK side at the dialogue.
The third Bangladesh-UK Strategic Dialogue was held in Dhaka on 24 April 2019 and it takes place once every two years.
The foreign minister will leave here on Sunday morning beginning his tri-nation (UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands) tour, said another senior official.
Engagements in Switzerland, Netherlands
In Geneva, Momen will attend the Asia-Pacific regional review meeting on the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action in preparation for the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (UNLDC-5) between 30 August 2 September.
Momen said Bangladesh and Canada will co-chair the event in Geneva.
The 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) will be held in Doha on 23-27 January, 2022.
In the Netherlands, Momen said he will attend the board meeting of the Global Centre on Adaptation apart from his other engagements there.
There will be another event on “How can floating development help adaptation to climate change?” which will bring together Dutch experts with experts on vulnerable housing in the South to discuss how to upscale innovative floating development adaptation solutions.
The foreign minister is likely to return home on 8 September.