Malaysian Premier Anwar 1st foreign leader to visit Bangladesh under transitional government

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is set to land in the capital Dhaka on Friday, becoming the first foreign leader to visit Bangladesh after Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took office on Aug. 8 this year.

Yunus took charge of the transitional government after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after the student-civilian uprising.

The two leaders are expected to discuss issues of mutual interest, including economic, political, trade and investment, education, technology and human resource development, according to the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry.

Anwar is expected to leave Dhaka Friday evening, the ministry said in a statement.

As Bangladesh is a major source of labor in Malaysia, the two countries are expected to discuss manpower transfer as well as higher education cooperation, infrastructure development and defense cooperation, it added.

Anwar is coming to Bangladesh at the invitation of Yunus and he is a Malaysian prime minister visiting the South Asian nation after a decade.

After Yunus assumed his latest role, Anwar was also the first foreign leader to call him and offer Kuala Lumpur’s "help and support" to the transitional government.

Malaysian foreign minister and other key officials are among a 58-member delegation accompanying the prime minister, said the ministry.

During the visit, he will hold bilateral meetings with the president and chief adviser of Bangladesh.

In 2025, Malaysia will assume the presidency of ASEAN with active cooperation on the Rohingya repatriation, said the Foreign Ministry.

About 1.2 million Rohingya have been in Bangladesh since August 2017, fleeing a severe military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Ahead of his trip to Bangladesh, Anwar paid a three-day official visit to Pakistan.