Beijing:

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived here on Tuesday on a four-day visit for talks with China’s top leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to further cement the bilateral strategic ties.

In her separate meetings with Xi and Li on Wednesday, the entire gamut of the bilateral relations alongside the regional and international matters will come for discussion, the official BSS news agency reported.

This visit of the Bangladesh premier to China is taking place within 15 days after her last visit to India from June 21 to 22, the Bangladeshi news agency reported.

Hasina had her last discussions with President Xi in a recent meeting on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hasina will also hold a delegation-level bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People. Following the meeting, Bangladesh and China are likely to sign and renew 20 to 22 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), the report said.

“The MoUs on cooperation in the economic and banking sector, trade and investment, digital economy, infrastructure development, assistance in disaster management, construction of 6th and 9th Bangladesh-China friendship bridges, export of agricultural products from Bangladesh and people to people connectivity are likely to be signed,” Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said on Sunday at a curtain raiser press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Bangladesh.

During the visit, Dr Hasan said the inauguration of several projects of the two countries will also be announced.

The issues like Rohingya, and cooperation on business, trade, commerce and development will dominate the discussions.

This is Hasina’s fourth visit to China and the trip is expected to elevate the relations between Bangladesh and China to “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” from “strategic partnership”, the report said.

The two countries would celebrate the golden jubilee of their diplomatic relations next year.

Meanwhile, China’s top political advisor Wang Huning met with Prime Minister Hasina on Tuesday in Beijing.

Wang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that under the strategic guidance of the two countries’ leaders, China and Bangladesh have respected and treated each other with equality, setting a good example of friendly coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries.

China is ready to deepen practical cooperation with Bangladesh in various fields, and push the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries to a new height, to better benefit the two peoples, Wang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Saima Wazed and Dr. Shambhu Acharya seen together at a meet in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s daughter, Saima Wazed, was on Wednesday nominated as the next Regional Director for the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia region.

She defeated Shambu Acharya, a public health veteran from Nepal, in a vote held here during the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia Region. 

Bangladesh, Bhutan, DPR (North) Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste — 10 of the 11 member countries — took part in the vote. Myanmar did not send a delegation to the meeting. 

The nomination will be submitted to the WHO Executive Board during its 154th session, which is scheduled to take place on January 22-27 in Geneva, Switzerland, the WHO regional office said in an official communication.

The newly appointed Regional Director will take over from the present incumbent, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, on February 1.

Ms. Wazed, in a statement, said the WHO South-East Asia Region was home to over two billion people — more than a quarter of the people of the planet — and that the region represented a diversity with often differences existing within the boundaries of single member states themselves. She said that her priority areas of work would include universal health coverage (UHC), emergency response and pandemic preparedness, collaboration and partnerships (regional and multi-sectoral), and mental health.

“We will work to promote community-based mental healthcare services in member countries, encourage prevention and promotion in mental health while expanding efforts to include mental health in the public health agenda,” Ms. Wazed said.

Reacting to the result, Swarup Sarkar, former Director of WHO SEARO, said the election demonstrated the collective resolve of member states to move forward with the vision set out by Ms. Wazed.

“As a former WHO staff, I would look forward to a stronger, responsive, and responsible WHO working at the global, regional and country levels, on the principle of one WHO and more participation of civil society at all stages of WHO work,” he said.