LDC5 Smmit: PM to fly to Qatar tomorrow

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to leave for Qatar tomorrow to attend the 5th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5).

The event will be held on March 5-9, where the PM is supposed to seek global support for  Bangladesh's smooth graduation from LDC.

This will be the last LDC summit for Bangladesh as the country will be graduating from LDC status by 2026.

Hasina will be visiting Qatar at the invitation of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seheli Sabrin at the weekly media briefing yesterday.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, and Education Minister Dipu Moni, among others, will accompany the PM.

On March 5, Hasina will deliver a speech at the opening plenary meeting as a special guest. She will address an event on the sidelines, titled "Sustainable and Smooth Transition for the Graduating Cohort of 2021".

The PM will also speak as the chief guest at a business summit titled "The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potential of Trade and Investment in Bangladesh", and attend a high-level dialogue on "Enhancing the participation of LDCs in International Trade and Regional Integration".

Hasina will present Bangladesh's story of graduating from LDC. She will also speak on how the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war rattled the global economy, especially those of the developing countries.

Bangladesh will raise these issues and seek support from the developed countries for continuation of the trade privileges it now enjoys as an LDC, beyond 2026.

Seheli Sabrin said the PM would call on Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani on the sidelines of the summit.

She is likely to seek Qatar's support in oil supply as energy prices have shot up due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

She will also meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the summit.

At the briefing, the foreign ministry spokesperson also said Romania is expected to recruit more than 15,000 Bangladeshis this year.

A Romanian consular mission will come to Bangladesh on March 5 and stay till September.

During this time, the mission is expected to issue 15,000 visas, which was 5,400 last year.

Bangladeshis are going to Romania to work mostly in the construction sector.