Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Momen defers India visit to next month

DHAKA, Dec 12,2019 (BSS) – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen deferred his today’s India visit to next month with his office saying he planned to
reschedule the tour to join Martyred Intellectual Day programmes on December 14 at home.

“The foreign minister will visit New Delhi next month when he is likely to
hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar,” a foreign
ministry spokesman told BSS this afternoon.

He said the minister would attend programmes marking the Martyred
Intellectual Day events on December 14.

The official said two top foreign ministry officials, foreign secretary M
Shahidul Haque and secretary (Asia & Pacific) Masud Bin Momen, were now on an official visit abroad while state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam is also scheduled to leave the country for Spain tomorrow.

He said the situation also prompted the minister to revise his planned
India tour.

The two senior diplomats were now in The Hague to witness the ongoing
hearing over Rohingya genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Momen is scheduled to leave here for India this afternoon on a three-day
visit to attend the sixth edition of Indian Ocean Dialogue (IOD) to be held
in New Delhi on Friday.

The spokesman said the foreign minister sent Director General (Americas)
Ferdousi Shahriar to India for leading a Bangladesh delegation at the IOD.

The IOD is a flagship initiative of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
where the Member States discuss over far ranging topics such as economic
cooperation, maritime safety and security, blue economy, human assistance and disaster relief within the context of an evolving Indo-Pacific region.