PM's UK visit to cement ties with West

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali yesterday said relations between Bangladesh and the western world were moving ahead at a good pace and a visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the UK would take it to a 'new height'.
He said Hasina would hold bilateral talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Girl Summit 2014 to be held in London.
“The Hasina-Cameron talks will be held at 10 Downing Street when the two leaders would discuss matters of mutual interests,” Ali said, adding, “The bilateral meeting with the British prime minister is extremely significant as it will be the first such meeting with a head of government of the West since the 10th parliamentary polls.”
The foreign minister in his statement claimed that the prime minister would lead a 20-member delegation to London.
But, according to the book containing the programme schedule and entourage list published by the foreign ministry, the number of total delegation member is 57, which includes 14 PMO officials, 17 security personnel, eight foreign ministry officials, 10 member official media team and four eminent media personalities.  
The delegation would leave Dhaka for London at 9:00am today to attend the first Girl Summit to be hosted on Tuesday jointly by the UK and Unicef.
Her three-day visit is the first to a European country after the January 5 elections, which the British government strongly opposed.
At a press briefing on the premier's visit, the foreign minister, who would accompany Hasina, however, did not give details about the specific issues the two premiers would focus on.
He however said, “We expect fruitful discussion on all bilateral issues at the meeting.”
Asked if politics and the January 5 elections would be there on the agenda, Ali did not answer directly but referred to a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on January 16.
He read out three points of the 11-point resolution, one of which mentions: '… believes that, in the interest of Bangladesh's future, parties having a democratic reputation need to develop a culture of mutual respect; urges the BNP to unequivocally distance itself from Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e Islam'.
On current relations with the European and Western world, he said all countries had very strong engagement with the government and nobody stopped or suspended any project. “Even the European Union has decided to increase its grants for Bangladesh,” he noted.
Apart from meeting Cameron, Hasina will also hold meetings with government high-ups and shadow ministers, including International Development Minister Justin Greening and shadow Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander.
She is scheduled to attend a high-level session of the Summit on Tuesday and interact with First Lady Chantal Compaore of Burkina Faso, a West African country, and Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan.
Bangladesh State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze would also accompany her. Representatives of 53 countries are set to attend the Summit aimed at ensuring rights and welfare of girls around the globe.
The Summit aims at mobilising domestic and international efforts to end female genital mutilation and child and early and forced marriages within a generation.
According to UN and government statistics, 32.5 percent girls of Bangladesh are getting married between 15 and 18. The National Child Policy, 2011, and the Child Act, 2013, discourage child marriage and ensure security of such victims.
Bangladesh government views child marriage as a development concern that slows down socioeconomic progress and is looking forward to complete eradication of such marriages by 2055.
Hasina is expected to return home on July 24.