Foreign minister Mahmood Ali to attend Lee Kuan Yew’s mourning

Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali will attend the “official mourning” of Singapore’s founding father and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

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Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership will remain a lasting legacy: FM

Lee Kuan, architect of the city-state’s rapid rise from British military outpost to global trade and financial centre, died on Monday, aged 91.

He will lie in state at Parliament House for the public to pay their last tribute until Saturday.

The foreign ministry said the minister would leave Dhaka on Thursday night to pay last respects on behalf of Bangladesh. He will return on Friday night.

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Lee became Singapore's first prime minister in 1959 and held on to power for over three decades, overseeing the island's transformation from a port city, battling crime and poverty, into one of Asia's most prosperous nations.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sent separate condolence messages on Monday, immediately after getting the news, to their counterparts.

Earlier, the foreign minister had signed the condolence book opened at the Singapore Consulate in Dhaka.