President receives Bhutanese King at Dhaka airport

President Mohammed Shahabuddin today received Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

A special VVIP flight carrying the King of Bhutan landed at Dhaka Airport at 10:00am.

President Shahabuddin received the king with flowers while the first lady of Bangladesh Rebeka Sultana received Queen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck, Queen of Bhutan.

King Namgyel Wangchuck also inspected a parade of the armed forces at the airport after the national anthems.

After exchanging greetings at the airport, the king headed to Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 to pay tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman while President Shahabuddin joined “Military Hardware Exhibition 2024”.

The king will attend the ceremony at the National Martyrs’ Memorial at Savar with the president and prime minister tomorrow where he will plant a sapling.

The king is also scheduled to visit Bangabhaban where he will be received by the president and the first lady.

The king will have a meeting with the president at 4:30pm tomorrow while the president will host iftar and dinner in honour of the visiting royal.

The Bhutanese king will visit Padma Bridge and Bangladesh Special Economic Zone, Araihazar, Narayanganj. On Thursday, he will visit Kurigram Special Economic Zone.

He will leave Bangladesh territory for Golakganj, Assam via Sonahat Land Port on Thursday afternoon. Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, state minister for shipping, will see him off there.

Bhutan was the first country to recognise the newly independent Bangladesh on December 6 in 1971 when the 3rd King of Bhutan sent a message of recognition by telegram.

Since then Bangladesh and Bhutan share a special multidimensional bilateral relationship. Immediately after the independence, the Bhutanese government took initiative to establish diplomatic relations with Bangladesh and, consequently, formal diplomatic relations was established on 12 April 1973.