Bangladesh expects FM-level joint commission with Palestine during Mahmoud Abbas visit

Bangladesh is expecting to sign a MoU with Palestine to form a foreign minister level ‘joint commission’ to work on the issues of mutual interests during the three-day official visit of President Mahmoud Abbas, the foreign ministry says.

Abbas will arrive in Dhaka on Feb 1 on a special flight at the invitation of President Md Abdul Hamid.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, Chief Justice Mahmoud al-Habbas, Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Adviser to Diplomatic Affairs Majdi al-Khalidi and high-level military and civil officials will accompany him, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

He will pay a courtesy call on the President and will have the bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister when they discuss bilateral, regional and international issues of “common interest”.

Bangladesh has consistently backed the demand of the Palestinian people for an independent and viable state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Dhaka also condemns the Israeli occupation and backs the demand for Palestine’s “full membership” of the UN.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building in December after the United States abstained from the voting, breaking a long-standing approach of shielding Israel.

But President Donald Trump, who tried to intervene even before taking the oath, promised to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move to back Israel that many have seen as endangering the peace process.

Mahmoud Abbas will also visit at the National Memorial in Savar to pay homage to the martyrs of Bangladesh’s War of Independence.

He will also visit Bangabandhu Museum at Dhanmondi 32 where the father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated in 1975. Abbas will leave Dhaka on Feb 3, according to the foreign ministry statement.