Shawdesh Desk:

President of the Republic of France Emmanuel Macron will pay homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 during his visit to Bangladesh next week.

He will arrive in Dhaka on September 10 at the invitation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

This is going to be the first visit by any French President in the last three decades.

Former French President Mitterrand visited Bangladesh on 22 to 24 February, 1990.

President Macron will hold a summit meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Prime Minister’s Office and join a banquet to be hosted by her in honour of the French President.

The two leaders are expected to witness signing couple of bilateral instruments and hold a joint press briefing.

The governments of Bangladesh and France sincerely hope that the visit of the French President to Bangladesh will further elevate the friendly relations between the two countries to a new height, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to receive the French President at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and Foreign Minister Dr AK. Abdul Momen will see him off.

The French President will be accompanied by, among others, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited France in November 2021 at the invitation of the French President Emmanuel Macron.

France is seeing the visit as an “opportunity to deepen” the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The French government confirmed the visit on Monday describing Bangladesh as a country that is experiencing “rapid economic growth and seeking to diversify” its partnerships.

“Bangladesh and France also show great convergence in the face of global challenges, particularly within the framework of the Paris Agenda for Peoples and the Planet, which Bangladesh actively supports,” reads the announcement.

Since the country is particularly vulnerable to climate change, the President will recall France’s determination to stand by Bangladesh on its humanitarian front, in particular in the face of regular floods.

Bangladesh is also an important contributor to international solidarity actions, whether through its contingents in peacekeeping operations or in hosting Rohingya refugees.

In Bangladesh, the President of the French Republic will continue the concrete declination of the French strategy in the Indo-Pacific, after welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Paris this summer and visiting Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Sri Lanka.

The President of the French Republic will go to New Delhi to take part in the G20 Summit, on September 9 and 10.

He will then come to Dhaka on September 10 for the bilateral visit.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen recently said Bangladesh and France would discuss ways to enhance trade and investment between the two countries apart from discussing issues like climate change and regulated migration during the taljs.

“Women empowerment, enhancing trade and commerce and regulated migration – these are normal issues. Climate change is a big issue. The President of France has taken a leadership role,” Momen said, adding that Bangladesh will raise the loss and damage issue and its making functional of its relevant fund in a big way.