Yunus may attend UNGA and Bimstec summit

Interim Government’s Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus is likely to attend the Bimstec summit and the UN General Assembly, both scheduled to be held in September.

The Bimstec summit will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from September 2 to 4.

“The chief adviser is most likely to attend the [Bimstec] summit,” said a foreign ministry official yesterday.

Apart from addressing the summit, Prof Yunus will also hold bilateral meetings with the heads of the governments of some of the member countries, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources said.

This will be the first foreign visit for Prof Yunus as head of the interim government. He assumed this role on August 8, three days after the fall of the Awami League regime.

An official of the Chief Adviser’s Office said the chief adviser is also likely to attend the UN General Assembly in New York. UNGA is scheduled to be held between on September 10 and 24.

“The date for the visit of the chief adviser to the UN General Assembly is yet to be fixed,” the official told the Daily Star yesterday.

Bangladesh will be the next chair of the Bimstec — the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation — comprised of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

The official and ministerial meetings of the group will take place from September 1-3 before the summit.

As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) remains largely inactive, India has put Bimstec at the centre of its neighbourhood diplomacy.

An official of Bimstec Secretariat in Dhaka said they are working to sign at least four agreements including maritime transport cooperation during the summit.

The maritime transport agreement would include every aspect of maritime connectivity among the Bimstec member countries. The details of the agreement will be shared once the member states sign the document, he said.

Bimstec adapted its charter on May 20 this year, 27 years after the founding of the regional body.