Dipu Moni not going to Islamabad, too

Dhaka, Nov 20 (bdnews24.com) – Foreign Minister Dipu Moni is not attending the council of ministers’ meeting of Developing 8 (D-8) due to be held in Islamabad on Nov 21.

“The minister is not going to Pakistan to attend the D-8 Foreign Ministers’ meeting. She will leave for Russia on Nov 22 and will come back on 26,” the Ministry’ of Foreign Affairs’ Public Relations Officer Mohammad Manirul Islam Kabir told bdnews24.com.

However, he did not say the reason for the Foreign Minister to skip the D-8 foreign ministers’ meet in Islamabad.

The D-8 summit meeting will be held on Nov 22 while council of ministers meeting on Nov 21, according to schedule.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also not attending the summit due to a schedule conflict and she is sending her International Affairs Advisor Gowher Rizvi to the meeting.

“I will be leaving for Pakistan today and will attend the summit meeting on behalf of the Prime Minister,” Rizvi told bdnews24.com.

Earlier on Nov 9, Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar came to Dhaka on a short visit to formally invite Hasina to attend the summit.

During the Pakistani minister’s visit to Dhaka, the government had urged her that Pakistan offer unconditional apology for the genocide its troops had committed during Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971.

But Khar responded to the demand by advising Bangladesh to look forward and forget the past.

Source: Bd News24