FM touring Korea, China from Thursday

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will leave Dhaka for South Korea and China in her last tour before the election countdown begins on Oct 25.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a media release on Tuesday said she would make the visit at the invitation of her counterparts.

She will be visiting Seoul on Thursday and Friday and Beijing from Oct 20-22.

Her visit takes place at a time when both Chinese and Korean envoys in Dhaka have been active in meeting with Bangladesh’s political leaders amid a standoff over the general election.

China repeatedly called for dialogue for peaceful political solutions to the acrimony over the nature of poll-time government. The general election is scheduled to be held between Oct 25 and Janu 24.

The South Korean envoy also met with the leader of the opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Monday night, days after the Chinese Ambassador had met her.

Emerging global power China has influence on Bangladesh’s politics while South Korea as a development partner recently stepped up its public diplomacy.

According to the foreign ministry, during her visits, Dipu Moni will also meet senior political leaders in China apart from meeting her counterpart.

In Korea, in addition to a bilateral meeting with her opposite number, she will also lead a Bangladesh delegation to the “Seoul Conference on Cyberspace 2013” on Friday.

She is also expected to call on South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Besides meeting with Chinese leaders, the Foreign Minister is scheduled to present a keynote paper on “Bangladesh’s Role in the South Asia” in the Chinese Institute of International Studies in Beijing.

She will return home on Oct 22.