Dhaka to host D-8 meeting today without foreign ministers from abroad

Bangladesh to host D-8 council of ministers 20th session

The 20th session of the D-8 council of foreign ministers will be held in Dhaka on Wednesday.

However, other than host Bangladesh, none of the seven foreign ministers of the remaining D-8 countries will physically attend the event.

Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was almost certain to attend the session. But on Monday, Tehran informed Dhaka through the D-8 secretariat in Istanbul that due to unavoidable circumstances, he won’t be able to make it to Dhaka for the event.

Pakistan’s state minister for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani was supposed to represent her country in the session. But she also cancelled her trip to Dhaka on Monday through the D-8 secretariat.

Assistant foreign minister from Egypt, a special envoy of the Indonesian foreign minister, the deputy general secretary of the Malaysian foreign minister, Nigeria’s state minister for foreign affairs, Turkey’s deputy minister for foreign affairs and diplomats from Iran will represent their respective countries in the session.

Pakistan’s state minister for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani will represent Pakistan at the session virtually.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually inaugurate the hybrid formatted session on Wednesday morning.

Taking into account the recent surge in Covid-19 cases worldwide, the foreign ministry has decided to hold the session in hybrid format

Diplomatic sources said that the Bangladesh high commission in Pakistan had no information on Hina Rabbani’s visit to Bangladesh. That’s because she had procured a visa for the trip from the Bangladeshi high commission in London and was supposed to arrive in Dhaka from England.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh consulate in Tehran had hinted beforehand that Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian might not attend the session.

Previously, on Sunday, during a press conference held ahead of the D-8 session, Bangladesh’s foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said while replying to a question that the ministry is yet to fix the agendas for his meetings with Hina Rabbani and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in between the conference.

The foreign minister said, “Fuel and food security are now global issues, which will be discussed in the D-8 session as there are many scopes for cooperation in this regard. We are emphasising on food security. The food security issue will be broadly discussed.”

When asked if the fuel security issue arising from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war will be brought up for discussion, Abdul Momen said, “This is being discussed everywhere and it’s a widely discussed issue globally. We definitely need to ensure fuel security. We will also hold discussions on this.”

The foreign minister also said that Azerbaijan has applied to be a member of D-8, an organisation of eight developing Muslim countries.

The D-8 members will decide whether or not Azerbaijan will become a member of the organisation.