Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to visit Dhaka on Sept 7

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will arrive in Dhaka on September 7 on a two-day visit before attending the G-20 Summit in India. During his visit, he will make a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and hold an official meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen, a diplomatic source confirmed.

This will be the first visit of any Russian foreign minister to Bangladesh after independence.

"He'll arrive on September 7 night and leave for Delhi in the next day morning. So, basically he will stay for few hours. It's less than 24 hours visit," the foreign minister said.

On September 8 morning, he will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said.

The Russian minister was scheduled to visit Bangladesh on November 23 to attend the 22nd Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Council of Ministers meeting held on November 24.

Russia is a dialogue partner of the IORA while Bangladesh is the current chair of the group.

Ahead of the meeting, Lavrov called his counterpart Dr Ak Abdul Momen and expressed his regret for not being able to come to Dhaka due to “schedule complications”.

However, he had expressed his intention to make the visit soon.

Now he will come at a time when the United States is keeping pressure on the government as part of its global effort to isolate Russia following the Ukraine war. Washington prevented Dhaka from paying back a part of the loan taken from Moscow for the construction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

The government later decided to pay it via Beijing using Yuan, and again received Washington’s objection.

Read More