Swiss president due Sunday
Scheduled to visit Rohingya refugee camps during four-day tour
President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset will pay a four-day official visit to Bangladesh from Feb 4.
During his visit, he will hold discussions with top government leaders to further strengthen bilateral ties and express solidarity with Bangladesh for hosting over a million Rohingya refugees.
In the first official visit by a Swiss president to Bangladesh, there will be two main aims: to demonstrate solidarity with a country that is severely affected by the crisis in neighbouring Myanmar, and to establish closer bilateral relations, according to a press statement of the Federal Council of the Swiss government.
In Bangladesh, it said Berset is due to hold official talks with President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
Apart from underscoring the current status of bilateral relations, the two countries will discuss ways to further strengthen economic, development and cultural cooperation during the visit.
In addition, the Swiss embassy in Dhaka said “solidarity with Bangladesh in the Rohingya crisis will be a major focus of the talks, as will cooperation at multilateral fora.”
On Tuesday (February 6), President Berset will visit Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar district, where Switzerland provides humanitarian aid to Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in Myanmar.
The programme schedule of the Swiss president also includes meeting representatives of the civil society and meeting representatives of Swiss businesses in Bangladesh.
President Berset will visit the Dhaka Art Summit, of which the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia is a partner.
Officials said the bilateral economic relations between the two countries are growing and the volume of trade between the two countries has more than doubled since 2010. After Bangladesh, President Berset will visit South Korea where he will attend the opening of the Olympic Winter Games.