Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on a brief visit tomorrow, officials confirmed.

During his visit, he is scheduled to meet President Abdul Hamid and Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff General Aziz Ahmed.

A foreign ministry official told The Daily Star, "He will be visiting Dhaka on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence and birth centenary of Bangabandhu."

Asked if there is any agenda on military cooperation with China, the official said he was not aware of it.

The visit of Wei Fenghe, who will also visit Sri Lanka after the Dhaka visit the same day, comes at a time when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will virtually host a ministerial meeting with South Asian leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka under a new initiative of China-South Asia Covid Cooperation and Post-pandemic Economic Recovery.

The initiative comes amid rising cases of coronavirus infections in South Asian countries, mainly India where daily cases are on average 3.5 lakh. Bangladesh is also struggling to get vaccines after India banned the export of vaccines by the Serum Institute of India amid rising needs of inoculation for the Indians and shortage of raw materials from the US.

Earlier this month, the Chief of Army Staff of Indian Army Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane also visited Bangladesh.