Bangladesh PM to arrive in Abu Dhabi on Sunday

Abu Dhabi: The Bangladeshi Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina is reaching Abu Dhabi early on Sunday for a three-day official visit, a top diplomat told Gulf News on Thursday.

“She is coming from Germany as part of a two-nation tour, which is her first foreign visit after assuming the prime ministership last month for a third straight term,” said Mohammad Imran, the Bangladeshi Ambassador to the UAE.

Bangladeshis in the UAE are eagerly waiting for her visit, he said.

An estimated 700,000 Bangladeshis constitute the third largest expatriate community in the UAE, after Indians and Pakistanis.

Shaikh Hasina will attend the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX-2019) on Sunday.

The Prime Minister is expected to hold official meetings with top UAE officials in Abu Dhabi, the envoy said. She will also interact with leading businessmen in the UAE and discuss investment opportunities in Bangladesh.

Two Bangladeshi entities — Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) are likely to sign two separate Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with a UAE firm during Shaikh Hasina’s visit. The first one is related to energy and power sector and the second one on setting up a Special Economic Zone in Bangladesh, the ambassador explained.

The prime minister will fly back from Abu Dhabi to Dhaka on Wednesday morning. Her last official visit to the UAE was in October 2014.

Shaikh Hasina was scheduled to arrive in Germany on Thursday evening, where she will attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2019, being held from Friday to Sunday.

She is expected to hold bilateral meetings with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders in Germany, the envoy said. She will also meet top executives of major German companies and invite them to invest in Bangladesh.

Shaikh Hasina will join in a panel discussion on ‘Climate Change as a Security Threat’ on Saturday afternoon before flying to Abu Dhabi.