PM to visit Cambodia Dec 3-5

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit Cambodia on December 3-5 to further expand and strengthen trade relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.

During the tour, the two countries will ink two agreements and nine memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to strengthen bilateral  cooperation, said foreign ministry officials.

Addressing a press conference at the ministry yesterday morning, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said the deals would focus on collaboration among top businesses and flight operations of private airlines of the two countries.

The nine MoUs will facilitate formation of a joint trade council, boosting coordination for implementing Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, labour and vocational training, information and communication technology, development of tourism, preservation of war history and memorabilia, development of fisheries and aquaculture and expansion of investment.

Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies and Royal Academy of Cambodia will sign an MoU to ensure collaboration at the academic level.

The PM's entourage will include foreign and civil aviation ministers, state minister for ICT and senior officials from the ministries concerned. Besides, a delegation of Buddhist monks and a business team will accompany the premier.

It will be Hasina's second visit to Cambodia after her first official trip to the country in January 2001.

The Cambodian foreign ministry in a statement yesterday said the Bangladesh PM's upcoming visit reflects strengthening of the bonds of friendship and further deepening of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The Bangladesh PM will hold a bilateral meeting with her Cambodian counterpart Samdech Techo Hun Sen at the Peace Palace. Later, the two leaders will witness the signing ceremony of the agreements and hold a joint press conference.

“From a political point of view, the prime minister's visit will play a special role in mobilising Cambodia's support for Bangladesh becoming a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN and joining Mekong Ganga Cooperation,” Mahmood said.

The minister said the visit would significantly help both the countries taking a decision on holding a foreign minister-level Joint Commission Meeting next year.

The PM would be visiting Cambodia at the invitation of her counterpart Hun Sen who had visited Bangladesh on June 16-18, 2014.

Mahmood said Bangladesh has agreed to rename a prominent street in its capital after the founding father of Cambodia.

The Park Road in the capital's Baridhara Diplomatic Zone will be renamed after late Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk. Similarly, Cambodia will rename an important street in Phnom Penh after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Asked if the Rohingya issue would be discussed with Cambodia, the foreign minister said, “Let's go there first and then we will see.”

He said Pope Francis, now in Dhaka, sided with Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue even before visiting Myanmar.