Hasina-Zelensky meet in Munich

She starts for Germany today for security conf

FE REPORT | Published: February 14, 2024 23:42:58

Sheikh Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will have a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Munich security conference, in a somewhat significant coincidence.
The prime minister is scheduled to start for Germany this (Thursday) morning to attend the conference. She will return home on February 19, Foreign Minister Dr Hassan Mahmud told a press briefing Wednesday.
"The Ukrainian President sought the appointment and our prime minister agreed to meet him," he says.
There has been a raging war between Russia and Ukraine for long, with US-led NATO supporting Ukraine with money and munitions.
Responding to a question in this context, the foreign minister said the meeting with Mr Zelensky wouldn't impact the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Russia
"Russia is a very close friend of us, and we have longstanding ties since the days of our independence. Even during our liberation war, a Russian navy frogman was killed while sweeping mine in the Chittagong port," the minister added.
Bangladesh all along believes in the policy of maintaining friendly relations with all the countries of the world, he noted, reflecting on the country's foreign-policy stance.
The minister said Bangladesh wants an end to global conflicts and to ensure global peace, because, without ending global conflicts, peace and economic prosperity cannot be achieved.
To another question, the foreign minister said repatriation of the displaced people from Myanmar would also be widely discussed at the Munich meet on global security.