OIC chief announces $100,000 donation to Bangladesh Islamic Foundation

The OIC secretary general has announced a donation of $100,000 to Bangladesh Islamic Foundation during his visit to the foundation in Dhaka.

Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen inaugurated a Halal Laboratory there as the chief guest on Friday evening and made the announcement as 'symbolic humanitarian gesture', the foreign ministry said.

The ceremony was followed by the exchange of views with Islamic scholars and Ulema and a dinner hosted in his honour.

Minister of Religious Affairs Principal Matior Rahman chaired the event.

The OIC secretary general arrived on Wednesday night in his first visit to Bangladesh. On Thursday, he paid courtesy calls on President Md. Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and held a meeting with the Foreign Minister A H Mahmood Ali.

Earlier, on Friday he visited Kutupalang Camp and surrounding areas in Cox’s Bazar and saw firsthand the plight of the Rakhine Muslims who were compelled to cross the border for life and to take shelter in Bangladesh in the face of the latest round of atrocities perpetrated inside Myanmar.

The most recent round of displacement began in October last year.

AFM Gousal Azam Sarker, Director General (International Organisations) of the foreign ministry accompanied him, among others.

He will be leaving Dhaka for Jeddah on Saturday morning.