PM may visit India in June

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit India and China, likely in June and July, in her first major bilateral tours after the January 7 national election.

"The prime minister will definitely visit India, but the tour will take place after the national election there. The schedule is yet to be finalised," Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud told reporters at his ministry yesterday.

India's parliamentary polls are scheduled to be completed on June 1.

Yesterday, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen met the PM at the Gono Bhaban and extended an invitation to visit China in July. The PM accepted the invitation, reports BSS.

Foreign ministry sources confirmed that Hasina's visit to China was delayed because of the national polls. With the election now over, the premier is planning the visit. However, she will tour India before travelling to China.

Hasina's visit to Germany in mid-February to attend the Munich Security Dialogue was her first foreign tour after the polls.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud yesterday said he requested the envoys of Bahrain, Portugal and New Zealand to invest in Bangladesh's IT sector and economic zones.

He made the request during separate meetings with Bahrain Ambassador to Bangladesh Abdulrahman Mohamed Ahmed Al-Qaoud, Portuguese Ambassador Joao Manuel Mendes Ribeiro de Almeida and New Zealand High Commissioner David Pine.

Briefing reporters after the meetings at the foreign ministry, Hasan said there are about 20,000 Bangladeshis in Portugal and more than half of them have secured Portuguese citizenship.

"I told the Portuguese ambassador that Portugal can hire more skilled Bangladeshis. We discussed a possible agreement towards that end," he said.

The minister requested the Bahraini ambassador to recruit agriculturists and nurses from Bangladesh as the Gulf nation is going for large-scale greening of its land.

Foreign ministry officials said Hasan may visit New Zealand in October on his way to Samoa where he will attend a Commonwealth event. He is likely to extend an invitation to New Zealand officials for a high-level visit to Bangladesh.

"No high-level visits took place between the two countries for many years. We would like to have one," an official told The Daily Star.

Hasan said he discussed Rohingya repatriation, especially the delay tactics being deployed by Myanmar, with the envoys. More pressure should be put on Myanmar to address the Rohingya problem, he added.