Dhaka [Bangladesh], August 20 : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for Johannesburg on Tuesday to attend the BRICS meeting at the invitation of South African President Matamela Cyrill Ramaphosa, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Briefing reporters about the visit, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said the prime minister will attend the "BRICS-Africa Outreach and the BRICS Plus Dialogues" on August 24 on the last day of the 15th BRICS summit, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Prime Minister Hasina’s joining the BRICS summit in South Africa has generated much interest in the five countries' political bloc in Bangladesh.
The government also showed interest to be a member of the major emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grouping, Dhaka Tribune reported.
The foreign minister said earlier in June in a "Friends of BRICS Foreign Ministers" presented Bangladesh's position virtually.
"There, I called on the BRICS member countries to transfer their cost-effective technology to developing countries and to invest in the developing countries. This year we formally expressed our desire to join BRICS," he said.
Bangladesh joined BRICS' new development bank in 2021 as the first country outside the member states.
The foreign minister said the prime minister will attend the Bangladesh trade and business summit being organized by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangladesh Investment Development Board.
She will attend the “regional envoys conference” organized by the foreign ministry.
She will attend the dinner hosted in honour of the participating head of state and governments.
On August 24, she will attend the BRICS-Africa Outreach and the BRICS Plus Dialogues.
She will speak as a member of the BRICS new development bank, the foreign minister said. Representatives from 70 countries will attend that dialogue.
The prime minister will also speak at a reception hosted by the expatriates of Bangladesh in the evening, Dhaka Tribune reported.
The president of the new development bank would also call on the prime minister.
Replying to a question, the foreign minister, however, said the side-line meetings with the different heads of government were yet to be fixed.
Officials earlier indicated that the prime minister might have meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.
The foreign minister said those meetings are yet to be confirmed.
"Such meetings are usually set at the last moment," he said.
"Since it's a short visit, and the prime minister will go to Delhi in September for G20 where there will be a chance to have a bilateral meeting with the Indian prime minister," the foreign secretary added, Dhaka Tribune reported.
"Many African countries also requested the call on with the prime minister. We couldn't fix it yet," the foreign minister said.
The prime minister will leave from Johannesburg to Dhaka on August 26.
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